Naruko: The Inheritor of Ten
by cloudmatter
Summary: The Sage of Six Paths had a third child. And the existence of that child created a new choice, to seal the entirety of the Juubi into the child. Nearly a thousand years later Uzumaki Naruko is next in line to take on that burden. AU.
1. Red and White

It had all gone to hell. This was supposed to be the best day of his life, perhaps only matched by the day he married Kushina-chan. His wife had gone into labor and they had rushed her to the safe location he had prepared specifically for this day. The birth had been rough, his wife's water wasn't expected to break for another three weeks or so. But still in the end his wife pulled through and he was greeted by his child loudly declaring she was alive to the world. The girl had Kushina-chan's beautiful red hair and his eyes. The infant girl was wailing loudly and she couldn't have been more perfect. This had perhaps been the single happiest moment of his life thus far. Then it all went down hill from there. He and his wife had stopped paying attention to her seal for a second, and the beast sealed within took it's chance to break out while she was weak. He and Konoha were quickly met with the meaning of despair.

The beast had ten long tails and a single red eye, that bore the familiar tomoe of the Sharingan. It seemed to peer into the very depths of his soul, he almost felt his heart stop just from seeing it, like the icy hand of the Shinigami had come to rend not only his soul but the very meaning of the word hope from existence. It was despair incarnate, that was all he could call it. The beast wasn't even at full strength from what he could tell, as though it's millennia spent in seals had left it dormant and only now had it begun to wake for the first time since it's first sealing. And if it is despair incarnate when it's this weak, what could he possibly do as it grows stronger and more awake by the second? It was-

"Minato!" He was snapped out of his thoughts by his wife's plea. She was dying, they both knew it. She had already been exhausted from the childbirth, let alone the fact that it was premature, add on top of that the beast escaping and she was thrown onto deaths door. But his wife was strong and that alone wouldn't be what truly brought her death. No it would be the fact that she was currently using every ounce of chakra she had left to restrain the beast in her chains. It had gotten to the point where she had to forgo her own safety to maintain them and make them truly a part of her, rending the flesh from her back to directly link with her chakra core. Not even Tsunade could save her after something like that. "You know we have only one option." Sealing the beast in his daughter. The thought made him want to wretch.

"Kushina-chan, is there really no other way?" Kushina-chan had a far better life than his daughter would. No one had seen the demon in over a millennium, save the Uzumaki family who had been keeping it locked away in their main family for generations. The modern people had no idea that the legend of the Rikudo Sennin was true. But it had been truer than anyone could have ever imagined, the untold destruction wrought on Konoha was proof of that much. And he knew that it was exactly this destruction that would condemn his daughter to a life of hell. Assuming anyone finds out that he sealed it in her. If all goes well only Kushina-chan, Jiraiya-sensei, Tsunade, The Sandaime (who would really only learn of it today), and himself would ever know. And hopefully all of them would take this information to their graves.

Kushina shook her head, "Only an Uzumaki can contain the beast, it's the only way to save the village." They both knew it, they had discussed how they would one day have to place the beast in their daughter. The Uzumaki family could only contain it due being saturated in the chakra from the moment of their inception. Anyone else would quickly be consumed by it. And even then an Uzumaki could only carry it for about forty years if they're lucky, though there were exceptions, like Kushina-chan's great grandmother, Uzumaki Mito's sister (She was made heiress after Mito's engagement to Hashirama Senju) carrying the beast for close to one hundred years. Kushina sighed and Minato snapped out of his thoughts once more. "We're not going to be there for her." His wife was crying, she had dreamed of starting a family after they were married, the fall of Uzushio had always left her longing for one. Truthfully speaking he had too. After he and Kushina-chan had gotten married he had come to a realization. More so than even being Hokage, his dream was to live out his days with his family in peace. How cruel fate is to rip that away from him when he was so close.

"We can only hope that Sensei and our students will be able to care for her." Really he meant Jiraiya and Tsunade, his students were adults and all were jonin, as were Kushina's, but they were only 16, no age to be taking care of a child. The chains let out an intense groan and he sighed, they were out of time. "I'm sorry Naruko, Daddy's not gonna be here to see you grow." He was holding his perfect little daughter in his arms. She looked up at him and gurgled happily. He smiled softly, she was a tiny little thing, an effect of being delivered early, but he loved her regardless. "You're gonna have to be strong. You probably won't remember us, but know that we love you so much." He looked to Kushina and nodded.

Their hands flew through a series of hand signs and both shouted in unison "Fuin!" Minato's hand landed on his daughters stomach while Kushina's landed on the beast, at the same time one of her chains pierced him, one of the ones directly linked to her chakra core. He had to hold back the cough of blood. He was going to die regardless, he could already feel the icy breath of the Shinigami grasping his soul, guess his statements earlier weren't that far off. It extended through the chains and Kushina to the Juubi, sucking the beast down into his newborn. Fortunately this process wouldn't trap his wives soul as well, but it would still condemn him for eternity. It was their only option to seal the beast on such short notice.

The Juubi let out a single might roar before it was fully sealed into his daughter. He could feel his life draining as he got one last look at his daughter. Her red hair had turned white as snow, but more striking than that was her eyes. No longer did she have his blue eyes, instead they were the eyes of the beasts, with that awful version of the Sharingan or whatever it truly was. Still she was his perfect baby girl and even with the change to her pigments he thought she was beautiful. He carefully laid down and held her as she cried. It would be okay, his friends and students would understand they would be there for her.

He heard his wife fall to the ground next to them and hold their daughter. He let out a faint smile. "Kushina-chan, little Naru-chan. I love you two more than you could ever know." His wife said something but he couldn't hear her, but he knew what she was saying all the same. She was saying the same thing, in the end he loved his daugther more than even his own life, perhaps even more than the village he swore his life too. She would grow up to be great, he just knew it. He smiled. And then he died.

* * *

She had watched the light fade from his eyes. The Shinigami wasn't kind enough to give him time, but she had to hold out a little while longer. She knew someone would arrive soon and she had to make sure her daughter was taken care of. Even if she was exhausted beyond all reason. Even if she was in more pain than she had ever felt before. Even if she could feel her life force draining away by the second. She wouldn't die until her daughter was in safe hands. She'd use what little time she had left to talk to her daughter while she waits. "Naruko, Mommy and Daddy love you so so much. It's a shame but we won't be able to watch you grow up. To comfort you when you're hurt. To scold you when do something wrong. To cheer you on when you're feeling down. We're going to miss it all." The words seemed to get to both of the Uzumaki remaining, as tears burst forth from both herself and her daughter. "So you're gonna have to be strong. Stronger than anyone's ever been. But your daddy and I believe in you." She let out a pained cough, she was running out of time. "Stay away from the three shinobi vices, well I guess for you it would include men instead of women. Of course my points remain. Find some people you can truly rely on, they're the people who make life worth living." She couldn't keep going, fortunately Hiruzen seemed to show up just on time to let her finish her little speech.

She could see the grief on his face, Biwako (his wife), had died right away when the beast was released. "Hiruzen." She let out a cough, she could feel the blood filling her longs ever so slowly. When the beast had escaped it didn't just pop out of her, it took some her internal organs with her. She had been bleeding to death for a while now. It was only the Uzumaki vitality that had kept her going for as long as she had. It was because her seal wasn't as perfected as her daughters, the Shiki Fuin was made to be easier on the bearer of the seal, and to allow for more control. Her seal was not so perfect, to make it easier it was woven into her body, inside and out. So when the demon went so did some of the organs that had helped bind it. And none of that even considers the holes her own chains had created when she had directly connect them to her chakra core. All in all her insides were practically mush, or at least that's how it felt. "Please take care of her. I know all of this is unheard of to you, but believe me when I say, she's no monster." She didn't have time to hear his response. Her body couldn't take it anymore and so just like her husband before her, she died.

* * *

Grief was a funny thing. He had seen much of it over the course of his life, he had felt it too. But he had never really thought about how it affects him and those around him. He didn't really have time to grieve his wife's death. He didn't have time to grieve the death of so many villagers. But he supposed for the moment he could grieve for Minato and Kushina. He could grieve for the child that would grow up with out her parents. He could do all that. But he can't bring himself to. He want's so badly to feel anything resembling passion for this child, but looking into those red eyes that so perfectly match the demon he just can't. He had never heard of sealing another conscious being inside a person before, so what proof did he have that the girl wasn't consumed by the beast? She certainly had the appearance. Kushina had said she's no monster, and certainly the fiery red head was better at Fuinjutsu than he'll ever be, but to seal a monster that seemed to appear from no where, how could she know?

He heard two sharp knocks on his door. Danzo then. "Enter." His longtime friend and rival hobbled in. It would seem he was freshly injured in the battle, if his brand new bandages were anything to go off of.

"So that's her?" Hiruzen nodded. "What do you think we should do?" He knew Danzo wouldn't bother to state his opinion, what he wanted was known long before he even walked into the room.

"They would want me to care for her, but look at her, she's a monster no matter how you slice it."

"Do you think we can tame it then?"

"Perhaps. You know as well as I there are only two ways to tame a beast." That is to harm it until it's to scared to fight back, or to shower it affection until it'll lay down it's life to protect those who raised it.

"Look at it, do you really think affection will be possible?" Hiruzen shook his head. If she was going to look like this, then certainly he wouldn't be able to protect her from the scorn of others. "What if one of the Sannin or their students raised her?" Minato and Kushina had put it in their will that Jiraiya or Tsunade were supposed to care for the girl in the event of their untimely deaths. But the circumstances were far different than normal deaths in the field. Likewise the girl was no longer their daughter.

"Jiraiya might, but we need his spy network now more than ever. It pains me to do so, but we'll have to lie to him about her. Regardless of our choice we can't afford him feeling the need to look after her." Danzo nodded. "As for their students, they're still children." the oldest among them was only 16.

"Tsunade could still be convinced."

"The only way to convince Tsunade is if we let her take the child with her outside of Konoha." They both knew that wouldn't do. If they were going to have the child, the monster, fight for Konoha then it needed to be raised in the village. An idea came to him. "We'll have the child raised properly by a wet nurse for a while. In that time if one of the students volunteer to raise her then we'll let them."

"I thought you were against having the children raise it?"

"I am, but this can work in our favor. In this case we can use fear and affection." Danzo understood where Hiruzen was going now. Certainly the Hokage hadn't lost his edge with age. He was still willing to make the hardest of sacrifices.

His eyes flickered to the child, and he had to hold back his surprise. She looked human once more. Her hair was the same red as her mothers. He could make no comment about the eyes, as the child had drifted asleep over the course of his conversation. Guilt filled his conscious already. Was this really the right choice? Only time would tell. He could only pray that he hadn't made the wrong decision.

* * *

His plan had worked perhaps a bit to well. The wet nurses hadn't been tight lipped about the monster girl. The village was in a frenzy to have her killed. It had only three days since his meeting with Danzo but already it seemed the whole village knew. Several frantic knocks rapped against the door to his office. "Enter!"

"Sandaime-sama! Is it true Kushina-sensei's daughter is alive?!" Ah, so Kurenai was the first to respond.

"Yes, she's the child everyone in the village has been in such a fuss about." Kurenai seemed surprised by this, if her gaping mouth was anything to go off of.

"I-Is she really a monster?"

"Kushina told me before she died that she is not." He didn't state his own opinion on the matter, he merely wanted to let her draw her own conclusions. It seemed to reassure the girl. Her face locked in determination, and Hiruzen knew then and there that his plan had worked.

"Please, let me raise her." He gave a kind smile and said.

"Alright, but there is a condition. She'll be placed in an orphanage if it impedes you as a shinobi, this includes your mission record and your growth. This is non negotiable." He knew she would inevitably fail to meet the condition, raising a child is hard enough, doing it alone at 16 would be even harder. Put that on top of her being a demon, well Kurenai likely wouldn't have the child for long. He only needs to have the child know what affection feels like, just enough to desire it.

"Alright then. I accept." Hiruzen nodded and gestured to the crib, the child was hers to take.

* * *

He had been surprised, Kurenai had made it a whole two years without any slip ups. So he had to take matters into his own hands, before the child will be able to remember her clearly. All it really took was to convince his son how great a match he is with the girl. Asuma had managed to worm his way into the girls heart, and she may have worked hard enough to balance a child and a work life (he had found out that Kakashi, Gai, and Rin had all been helping) but she couldn't manage a love life on top of it. Even still he was impressed by her. She had managed to go one whole extra year without any slip ups, but finally the day came and he pounced on the opportunity.

He saw it as a win win situation. He had told Kurenai that if she manages to become an elite jonin before Naruko becomes a ninja then she'll be allowed to adopt her. His son got to try dating, and perhaps finally would end that rebellious streak of his. And Konoha got the perfect scapegoat. All in all it looks like Konoha came out on top from his decision. They had already started to recover, and now they have one more thing to unite over, he was sure the tree would only grow stronger from all this.

* * *

He had come to visit the Orphanage, the girl had been alone there for about half a year now and it was time to remind her of the feeling of affection. The matron had tried to persuade him otherwise, likely thinking he'll be upset at whatever states she's in. He had placed her in this orphanage specifically because the matron had lost family in the catastrophe.

The girl was locked in a room with no windows. She was a tiny thing, both in height and weight. Much to his surprise however she didn't look scared, instead she looked vacant. Like there was no soul inside her, she was dead to the world. She was dirty too, she likely hadn't been clean since she was with Kurenai. He slowly walked to her and smiled, "Hello there."

She seemed to snap out of her funk and actually noticed him for the first time. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I'm only ever in trouble when someone comes in."

"Not even to feed you?" She shook her head. "Do you eat at all?" She shook her head again.

"I sleep when I feel hungry."

"When was the last time you ate?" She shrugged. "Do you ever leave the room?" She shook her head again. "Then why do you get in trouble."

"I'm the cause of all the bad stuff."

"Do they hurt you?" She nods. "Do you want them to stop?" She hesitantly nods once more. "Then I have good news. If you become a ninja in the future, it will be illegal for people to hurt you, and you'll be able to eat."

"How do I do that?"

"You train, and when you've trained enough, you'll be a ninja."

"Oh, okay." He smiled at her again.

"Wait a moment, I'll go get you some food." He exited the room and went to the matron. She seemed nervous. "Fear not, you're not in trouble." She seemed to visibly relax at that. "You need to start feeding her, and letting her out of the room. I want her alive to become a ninja. You don't have to do it regularly, but enough so we can ensure she won't die. Now make her some food, bring it to me when you're done." The woman quickly rushed off to do so, and returned just as fast. It wasn't good food, it was actually moldy bread, he raised an eyebrow at her but decided it was good enough.

He quickly went back to the room and gave the demon the bread. Her face recoiled in disgust but none the less she ate it all, she seemed to understand how much better it felt to have food in her belly. "I've ordered the matron to feed you and let you out of the room occasionally."

The girl smiled brightly, the first look of happiness he's seen on her and said, "Thanks funny hat man!" It's a shame, he would have honestly believed her to be a real innocent child if he was a more naive man. Still he smiled back and said.

"Of course. If you ever need anything come looking for me." He didn't mean it really, but if the girl is loyal to him then she's loyal to the village and that's all that really matters.

* * *

As soon as the man left she could feel her expression to return to that stiff one. The food in her belly did seem to make her feel a little better, but the taste was bad. It also wouldn't take long for her to find out that the food would be forced out of her. She recoiled at the smell. Funny hat man hadn't gotten her good food. But maybe he just didn't realize it wasn't good. Whatever that food was she wasn't going to eat it again. She'd rather be hungry than full and in pain, and then hungrier. Still she felt a warmth fill her. It felt good to finally have someone who seemed to care.

"**Don't trust him.**" She scrambled into the corner. It was the voice again. It seemed to mostly pop up in her dreams, but today it was even there when she was awake. She was afraid of it. It seemed two toned like one voice was that of a woman, and the other that of some monster. She didn't like it. So she did what she does in her dreams. She quietly started singing a song to herself. She couldn't remember where she heard it, but it more than anything else made her feel safe. It almost made her feel cared for. But she wasn't about to believe anyone cared for her. Not really. Maybe funny hat man did. Or the black haired woman with red eyes she occasionally dreams about. But a dream lady and a man who fed her bad food is not much to go on.

* * *

He was upset. No upset couldn't really describe his feelings. He still was being put out on spy missions. He hadn't even had a chance to see his goddaughter yet. Sure the village was weaker than usual as a result of the beasts attack. But it had been nearly four years! But Sensei assured him that she was being taken care of and that she was showered with love. Apparently it's been a struggle to try and stop the girl from acting spoiled with how much Kurenai has been doting on her.

"Why did we go drinking with him again? He's a more annoying drunk then you are Tsunade-Hime." It was a cold voice, one that bore apathy for the world that broke him out of his thoughts. The man had pail while skin, yellow eyes, and long black hair. This was of course his treacherous teammate Orochimaru. He supposed it was a bit treacherous of him to be going out to drinks with him, but for all that Orochimaru was, he was never one to betray his teammates. So when he had told them why he had fled the village they had trusted him. He may have betrayed Konoha. But Team 7 was still his family.

"You know how upset he'd be if we didn't invite him for our monthly meet ups." A femine voice popped up. The woman who spoke was of course none other than his gorgeous teammate and Konoha's princess Tsunade. She had long blonde hair tied in two low pigtails. Of course her most striking trait, or rather traits, were the two large breasts on her chest. He had written many novels with those glorious breasts as the main source of inspiration. He was pulled out of that line of thought as he felt his hair get yanked. She forced him to make eye contact with her. He gulped audibly. She may be smiling but it was cold and malicious. He hastily nodded and she let him go. No words needed to be said, he got the message.

"Yeah but for the past few years all he's done is be upset over not seeing their daughter."

"You don't understand Hebi-teme. I've never seen her once. All I get are Sensei's reports on how she's doing." Orochimaru raised a brow at that, they still trusted sensei's reports after what he had done to them. He voiced that concern.

"You still trust his reports, when he clearly isn't letting you see her, and knowing how he betrayed me?"

"Yeah but she's a child, and she's Minato's daughter. I can't believe he'd lie about how he's treating the Fourths daughter." He wasn't afraid of people overhearing. He had put a sound proof seal here long before the others had arrived. The only ones able to hear their conversation was them. He had also made sure no one would recognize their faces thanks to the seal. Just in case there was someone who might think it wise to report that the two loyal Sannin and meeting with a traitor.

"I think you're being naive. That man will always put the village first, and he has a rather twisted way of thinking when it comes to what is right for the village." It had only been further warped by his success during his reign, further proving to himself that it's the best way to lead.

"Well for what it's worth he said I can raise her if I go back to the village. So I doubt she's being treated poorly, otherwise he knows damn well what will happen." She cracked her knuckles. If that girl had been mistreated in any way she'd destroy the village herself. Of course not before breaking every bone in Sensei's body.

The two men got a dark glint in their eyes. If she really was treated poorly then Konoha would be dealing with three very angry Sannin. Each one of them had a strong connection to Minato and Kushina. Their daughter had inherited these connections, even if the girl herself didn't have any idea. They would fight the world for her if need be.

* * *

A/N: Oh boy it's the rewrite no one asked for but I sure am delivering. I'm so much happier with the way this first chapter turned out compared to the original stories. So yeah for any of you who have read the original fic can tell, this first chapter is pretty wildly different than the original. It's got a ton more detail. And more importantly there is no council. In the original story I intended to use it and it would be super important around the time of the chunin exams. But then I went in a very different direction and it ended up being pointless. So I'm just cutting it out of this story. Anyways what'd you all think? Good, bad? For those of you who read the original, better or worse? Well regardless of whether you review or not thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next one, which should hopefully be in two weeks to a month from now, but we'll see. Lastly for all the new readers, this is yuri. If you're not into that well . . . sorry but not sorry.

CM 09/26/2019


	2. A Meeting and a Feeling

Naruko's life had changed a bit since the old man had appeared. The largest change was that she had been allowed to leave that room she'd been living in. Actually now that she thinks about it she can't recall ever having left that room prior to the man showing up. She also got to eat regularly now. It wasn't a lot and it often tasted bad, but she had learned it was better than being hungry. She had also met the old man a few more times. The voice from her dreams hadn't warned her about him since the first time so she chose to disregard it. Actually now that she thinks about it she hasn't heard the voice at all in the past seven months. If it was wasn't for the dreams being so vivid she would have thought the voice was never there at all.

The sound of kids laughing drew her out of her thoughts. Right she was at the park. She had taken to sneaking out of the orphanage. The old man had made the Hag (also known as the Matron Mother) allow her outside, but she wasn't supposed to leave the backyard. Clearly she isn't very good at following those orders. But whenever she's in the backyard the other kids at the orphanage just pull on her hair and call her names. She doesn't really mind but it makes it more annoying to be outside. So she had a decision be outside and put up with them, or go inside and not get to enjoy the outdoors. She chose neither and decided to start sneaking out. Well she calls it sneaking out, she's pretty sure the Hag knows what she's doing and just lets her go, so she has an excuse to hit her. She thinks it's worth it though, after all the swings at the park are pretty satisfying to just sit on and make for a good spot to enjoy the sunshine.

Naruko was once more drawn out of her thoughts by the sound of kids laughing; however, this time something was different about it. It was a sound. . . She recognized it, but she couldn't place where she'd heard it before. In a flash of inspiration it came to her. It was crying. She used to cry a lot back when she was first placed in the orphanage (it's odd she can remember being brought there but she can't remember where she was before). But she had quickly come to the realization that crying for Nee-chan wouldn't stop her from receiving her beatings, actually it made them worse. It was sort of odd, she remembers crying for Nee-chan but she can't remember who she is or what she looks like. Oh but she can remember a song, that she sorta associates with that Nee-chan, even though she can't remember her voice. She begins to quietly hum the song to herself. It always made her feel good when she hummed the song. Another set of laughter and sobbing broke her from her melody. Maybe the person crying didn't realize people get meaner when they see tears, at least that's how it's been for her. Seeing as she wasn't gonna get any peace she figures she might as well go investigate.

Naruko followed the sound of laughter and crying to the forest next to the park. She didn't have to go far in to find the source of the noises. Three boys, probably seven or eight if she had to guess, were surrounding a girl around her age. They seemed to be going between mocking the girl for having weird eyes, being arrogant about school or something weird like that, and just laughing.

"You know I have a Hyuuga in my class, that bastards always lookin' down on us regular people." The apparent leader spoke, as he bent down and grabbed the girl by her hair. He pulled her head up and for the first time Naruko got a good look at her. She had short black hair that seemed to have an odd tint of blue to it. More strikingly; however, was her white eyes. The girl appeared to be blind. Though for a second her eyes seemed to flick towards Naruko. Had she heard her perhaps? Or maybe it was a coincidence.

"Help." The girl said with barely a whisper. Her eyes were still locked on Naruko. She has to know she's there. Naruko didn't really want to get involved, she'd fought with older kids at the orphanage enough to know that they're typically stronger than her. And by typically she means always. Still there was something that compelled her to step in. Maybe it was the fact that for once someone seemed to actually need her. Her body was in motion before she even realized.

"Oh how the might Hyuuga. . ." He didn't get to finish as Naruko tackled the lead boy to the ground. He doesn't even get a chance to speak as she starts to repeatedly punch the downed boy in the face. The other two boys seem stunned for a moment before the largest among them forcefully pulls her off the lead boy. "What the hell's with this crazy kid? Just comin' outta nowhere and tacklin' me?" The lead boy seemed annoyed as he slowly got to his feet. Naruko kicked and struggled to get out of the large boys grip to no avail. The third boy, that Naruko decides to be the ugly one, speaks up.

"Hey I've seen her around, my mom and dad say not to look at her cause she's a demon." This wasn't the first time Naruko had heard someone call her a demon. She didn't really get it. Weren't demons supposed to be super tough monsters that are scary? She wasn't tough at all, in fact she was quite squishy as far as she could tell. Sure her birthday was the same at as the ten tailed monster that attacked the village, but she failed to see how that made her a demon.

"So you guys saw it then right? This demon tried to kill me." The large boy and the ugly boy nodded in agreement with their leader. "Then we teach it a lesson for the safety of the village. And then we'll get some shinobi to actually deal with it." Once again the two boys nodded in agreement with their leader. Naruko didn't get much time to think about what dealing with her was going to entail before receiving a punch to the gut that knocked the wind from her. "That was for tacklin' me to the ground." Another punch to the gut. "And that was for hittin' my face." And another. "And that was for stoppin' me from teachin' that Hyuuga a lesson." He had a larger wind up this time before bloodying her nose. "And that was for being a demon. And this last one, well this is because I can." He threw one last punch that once again connected with her gut making her cough painfully. The boy sneered and spat on her cheek. "You're worthless. Not even cryin' like a human. Come on, lets go find a shinobi to deal with her." The boy jerked his head and the large boy dropped her to the ground. The trio stalked off and Naruko let out a sigh. This probably wasn't worth it.

She looked towards the girl and gave a weak smile. She didn't really understand the purpose of smiling, but other kids did it around each other so she figured it might make her seem more normal. "You okay?" The girl shyly nodded and Naruko let out a sigh of relief, at least she stopped them from picking on the other girl. And well she'd heal fast, she always recovered from the Hag's beatings fairly quickly and she failed to see why this would be any different.

"U-Um are you really a demon?"

"I don't think so. Do I look like a demon to you?"

"N-No. Thank you for helping me. Wh-What's your name?" This girl sure did stutter a lot, Naruko wasn't really sure why.

"Uzumaki Naruko." The girl seemed to be waiting for something. Naruko wasn't sure what until she realized she hadn't asked the girls name. "You?"

"Hyuuga Hinata." Her name was kinda pretty. She didn't really understand why she thought it was pretty but she certainly felt that way.

"So are you blind?" Naruko had a suspicion the girl wasn't but she certainly looked the part.

"N-No my eyes are white because of a kekkei genkai." Naruko had no idea what that is but she nodded along anyways. "D-Do you think they look weird too?"

"No if anything I think they're pretty." The girl seemed surprised by the compliment. Naruko wasn't sure why, the girls eyes were unique and quite pretty, easily the prettiest eyes she'd seen. Her own blue eyes seemed sort of bland in comparison really.

"Th-thank you. N-Naruko-san i-if you don't mind can we be. . . um. . . can we be friends?" Naruko only vaguely understood what having friends was from watching other kids, but she had always wanted to try it.

"Sure, we're friends from now on the Hinata-chan." Naruko could feel the smile on her face. Odd she didn't have to force it this time. It just sorta came naturally. Is this why the other kids smiled all the time, because being happy just made people want to smile? She liked the feeling.

Before Hinata got a chance to respond a man who looked similar to Hinata emerged from the forest. If Naruko had to guess he was maybe her older brother. He looked to be a teenager at the least. Most notably he shared the same white eyes. The mans eyes darkened as he recognized her. She's never seen the man in her life but she's seen that look on the villagers enough times to know what he thinks of her.

"Hinata-sama come over here. One of your status should not associate with such. . . creatures." The man didn't even wait to hear her response before going over and beginning to drag Hinata-chan away. Naruko was a bit disappointed, this is usually where any chance she had of getting along with other kids disappears. Surely Hinata-chan would pick up on the scorn and begin to direct it at Naruko like everybody else. Well She'll be fine alone, just like she always has.

"NO!" Much to both Naruko and the mans surprise Hinata-chan yanked her arm out of his grasp and ran back over to Naruko. "Naruko-san is my friend!" Naruko felt a warmth fill her at those words, she didn't know why but hearing that made her happy. Maybe there really was something to having friends. The man seemed shocked by Hinata-chan's outburst and went silent for several moments.

He sighed and said, "As you wish Hinata-sama, but your father does want you home in thirty minutes and when that time comes I'm going to take you home, no arguments allowed." The man had mixed feelings on his decision if his reluctant stare towards her was anything to go by. Still Naruko wasn't about to argue with getting to spend more time with her new friend.

"Do you wanna go to the playground?" She had always seen other kids playing there so she figured it's more fun to play there than here in the forest. Hinata-chan nodded so Naruko grabbed her hand and started leading the way. "Do you wanna play 'ninja' Hinata-chan?" She didn't know how to play but as far as she could tell it mostly involved chasing other kids around the playground. It took Hinata-chan a moment to respond but finally she did.

"Sure. . . Naruko-chan." Naruko tilts her head at the other girl in curiosity.

"You don't need to be afraid Hinata-chan, we're friends so you can be brave." She thought maybe she was scared of her brother (Naruko had decided that's who he was, despite not having asked) deciding to separate them. Her brother is so weird, just nodding his head like he's answering yes. What is he answering yes to? She didn't get it.

Her attention is drawn away from him as Hinata-chan smiles at her and says, "Thanks Naruko-chan." Naruko smiles in response happy to see Hinata-chan acting brave now.

As it turns out Naruko was right about 'ninja' just being a game where they chase each other. Apparently one person is designated as the ninja and the other is the target and the goal is for the ninja to catch the target. Well catch really just means managing to touch them. Naruko was currently trying to catch Hinata-chan when Hinata-chan's brother spoke up.

"Hinata-sama it's been. . ." He didn't get to finish as a loud voice that Naruko flinches at shouts.

"Uzumaki Naruko!" Why did the Hag have to show up? "You sneak out! Make me come looking for you! And I find you trying to bully the Hyuuga heiress?!" She wasn't bullying her though. Also Naruko didn't really understand what about Hinata-chan being the Hyuuga heiress made her different, or what being an heiress was.

"Matron Mother I wasn't. . ." She was interrupted by more of the Hags yelling.

"Don't you lie to me you little witch, I saw you chasing her!" The old woman comes and violently grabs Naruko's arm and starts pulling her away.

"Bye Hinata-chan!"

"You leave that girl alone!"

"Miss they were simply playing. Or are you implying that a child would be allowed to bully our heiress right in front of me?" That seemed to get the Hag to freeze up. She turned and with a much kinder look on her face spoke to Hinata-chan's brother.

"Of course not, but the girl is very crude and isn't fit to be around such a distinguished clan."

"That is for the clan to decide, not you."

"My apologies Hyuuga-san, Still the girl did sneak away and needs to be getting home now."

"Hinata-sama we should be going too, you can say goodbye to your friend now."

Hinata-chan waves with a look of concern. "Bye Naruko-chan, can we meet again?"

Naruko returns the smile and says "See you soon Hinata-chan!" She didn't actually know when she'd see her again, but her words promised they'd meet again. The matron didn't let her say anymore as she's quickly dragged Naruko back to the orphanage. She's violently thrown into her room. Which for the first time felt small to her.

"You damn little demon. You wanna fucking embarrass me in front of the Hyuuga clan? Is that your game?!" Naruko winced as she felt the old woman slap her across the face. "If it wasn't for the grace of lord third I would never let you out of this closet. Nor would I feed a wretch like you." Another slap to the face. "Don't you ever try and manipulate that poor girl ever again!" She slapped the opposite side this time. "You." Slap, "are." Slap, "worthless." She finished with yet another slap to the face. Her cheeks were red and burned with the pain. Naruko could feel the tears of pain in her eyes but refused to cry. The woman went silent for a while and just continued to slap her over and over again. Finally it came to an end as the woman seemed to tire. "No food for three days! And you won't be allowed out of this closet for a week! And I so much as hear a single peep from you I'll beat you until you're black and blue." The woman left her room and slammed the door shut. Naruko was plunged into darkness.

That had been the worse beating yet, but she couldn't help the smile tugging at her lips. She'd made a friend today. She could sort of see why the other kids always seemed to care about friendship and that stuff. The warm feeling in her chest made everything else worth it.

* * *

Her day had gone from terrible to great very fast. It had started with her usual lessons about everything she would need to know as the Hyuuga heiress. Those lessons were difficult and stuffy and she hated them. After what had seemed like an eternity she had been given a break and with Ko-san as an escort she was allowed to go and play at the park. It had gone well until she had, with all the courage she could muster, ordered Ko-san to go get her snacks. She had told him that she'd wait at the park. He had seemed reluctant, but went seeing as it was an order. That had proven to be a mistake when a trio of boys convinced her to play with them in the forest only to immediately start bullying her once she followed them.

Then Naruko-chan showed up and her day turned around. Well not right away, it was even worse watching her get beaten up so badly. Though now that she thinks about it those injuries seemed to have disappeared by the time that old woman had shown up and taken her away. Hinata knew right away that she didn't like that woman just by how mean she was to Naruko-chan. She couldn't help but be amazed by Naruko-chan however. The smaller girl (as she had come to realize during their time playing together) hadn't been afraid to sneak out despite the risks. Hinata wanted to be like that one day, someone so brave that she's not afraid to take on people who outmatch her if it means helping others. But everytime she thought of fighting she simply froze up.

The elders often talk about that behind her back, claiming that she's not fit to be heiress and that it's unfortunate her uncle and his son were born to the branch family. Of course they don't dare to say such things in front of her father. Speaking of her father she is actually standing outside the door to his office while Ko-san is inside giving a report on the events that transpired today at the park. Huh, apparently he came back when he did because those same boys lied and told him that she was in danger from the demon. Ko-san had just told her father about Naruko-chan and how he had allowed them to play together.

She didn't even stop to think as she burst into the room and pleaded, "Please Otou-sama don't make me end my friendship with Naruko-chan!" Her father seems taken aback. Though given that his Byakugan was active it wasn't by the fact that she was listening and more by her outburst.

Her father was silent for several long seconds before he finally spoke. "You may continue to be friends. That being said if this friendship interferes with your studies in anyway you will be prohibited from seeing her again." She smiled at her father and despite it not being proper ran up and hugged him.

"Thank you Otou-sama!" She felt his hand tussle her hair. She could see that he wore a faint smile on his face.

"Now run along, I need to hear the rest of Ko's report." Hinata nodded and left the office.

* * *

It had been three months since Hinata first met Naruko-chan. In that time the little redhead had quickly become her best friend. They'd meet about once a week at the park as that tended to coincide when Naruko was let off from her punishments. Hinata wasn't sure why, but the Matron seemed to truly hate Naruko-chan with every fiber of her being.

But she wasn't the only one. Most of the village seemed to feel that same way about the girl. Hinata for the life of her couldn't figure out why the village had such an irrational hatred for her friend. But not everyone seemed to feel that way, Ko-san for example had warmed up to her quite a bit and was now at least friendly toward the girl, which is more than most people can get from her family. But he is an exception to that strange hatred.

There are other strange things she's noticed too besides the hatred. Like for example Naruko-chan's expressions are really weird. It seems like the vast majority of the time they're fake. Well fake perhaps isn't the right word, maybe it would be more accurate if she called them imitations. Like she's seen other people make these expressions and tries to recreate them in similar situations. The most common one was when she smiled. But then sometimes, she would smile for real and it was amazing. Hinata didn't know why she did those imitation smiles so often when her real smiles were so pretty.

But the weirdest thing about her hands down would have to be the animals. Anytime she gets close to animals they seem to be afraid and run off, which while a little odd isn't that strange. No what's bizarre is that despite that, they seem to always hang out near her. Especially when they manage to play right after Naruko-chan just woke up. For example, when they're in the park various squirrels, birds, and other critters hang out watching her, but as soon as she acknowledges them they suddenly get scared and flee, only to then return once she stops paying attention to them. She didn't get it. And they never behaved that way when she mimicked Naruko-chan's behavior so she had no idea what was causing it. Her best friend was a real mystery and she feels like she only gets more complex the longer Hinata thinks about her.

* * *

Naruko had been going to the park to visit Hinata-chan for about eight months now. It had been a great eight months too. She never knew life could be so much fun. Of course she was repeatedly punished for sneaking out to play with Hinata-chan, and that always left her sore and hungry, but she felt her friend was worth the risk involved. Today was no different. Or it should have been as she climbed the fence and entered the back yard of the orphanage. Weird that no other kids were out today. It wasn't that late. She shrugged it off and crept up to the door. It was locked. Okay what about a window. They were also locked. No getting out of punishment today then. With a sigh of resignation she went around to the front and knocked on the door. After several moments the door opened to reveal the Hags ugly face.

"Yes little girl? What do you need?" What? Why was the Hag acting like she doesn't recognize her? She could clearly see the disgust on her face, even if her words sounded kind.

"Did you finally lose it you hag?" Well she certainly succeeded in angering the woman.

"I don't know what you're trying you brat but get the hell away from my orphanage." Naruko didn't even get a chance to rebuttal as the door was slammed shut and the lock clicked. Naruko bangs on the door in response.

"What the hell! Let me in!" No response. She tries it for a while longer before resigning to the fact that it won't accomplish anything. Well now what?

She wouldn't be seeing the old man, who she had learned in the past few months was apparently the leader of the village (known as the Hokage) for another month and a half as he only visited every two months. She could try asking people where to find him but most villagers just ignore her when she approaches so that won't work. She could also go wait at the park for the next time she sees Hinata-chan, but she didn't want to burden her friend. Her stomach rumbles and she sighs, she better go look for some food or something.

She felt like she had walked the whole length of the village by the time that she had found anything. In fact she hadn't found anything in the village proper. It was only when she went out to the training grounds did she finally find something. There was a large forest sealed off by an iron fence. The gate had the numbers four four. She wasn't sure if it was supposed to be two fours or if it was just a number she couldn't count to. Either way she'd call it as she sees it and that's four four. With no hesitation she climbs the fence and enters the training ground.

She wanders around for a while and notices something odd. All the animals seem to be afraid of her. She had always thought it was because squirrels and birds were just scared of people naturally but she feels like those really big kitties and bugs wouldn't be scared of people. Maybe she's wrong, maybe humans are just really scary, or maybe demons are. She is still pretty sure she's not a demon, but she doesn't have any proof that she isn't outside of her size and how squishy she is, so she supposes it could be possible.

After a while of searching she finally finds some food. There were some berries that were growing out of a plant. They didn't look very tasty but she was so hungry, she'd deal with it. . .

She couldn't deal with it. The berries were so bitter and almost as soon as she managed to swallow them her stomach started to move violently. Not even at her hungriest had she felt a stomach pain this bad. It didn't take long for her meal to come back up and for her to be feeling just as hungry as before, only now her head was also spinning and her mouth tasted really bad.

She couldn't keep looking for food like this, it was getting darker by the minute and she was exhausted. After some quick searching she found a tree that was hollow towards the base. She crawled in and laid down.

She awoke the next morning to a bizarre sight. Two of the giant kitties were standing over her and growling at a bush. She didn't have any idea what to make of it. Maybe she's dreaming, that would explain why her hair looks white for some reason. She sits up and rubs her eyes. That seemed to of worked as her hair goes back to being red. It also seemed to have frightened the kitties as they make a sound akin to yelping and run off.

Having seen how bad the food in the forest was last night she decides to return to the village proper. Now that it's day people are at least out selling their food. One man was selling some fruit, which amazingly didn't seem to have any of that fuzzy stuff on it (the Hag always gave her fruit that was fuzzy if she was lucky enough to be given any fruit at all). She scrounged up enough money that was lying around on the ground to buy it, at least by the price he was advertising about loudly on the street. It didn't work. She went up to his stall and asked for an apple, placing the money on the counter. He took one look at her and then shouted at her until she left. He took the money too. She tried this a few more times, and after repeatedly getting the same result she decided it wasn't worth the effort.

And so it went for three weeks, before finally she couldn't stand the hunger and exhaustion anymore and she collapsed. It was weird. She had felt this hungry before the Hokage started to visit her but it never made her collapse like this. Maybe it's cause she used to sleep constantly in that room of hers. She didn't have long to dwell on it as her consciousness began to fade, the last image she remembered seeing was two figures standing over her.

* * *

She awakened feeling oddly well rested. Perhaps it was the fact that whatever she was on top of was the softest thing she'd ever been on. Her stomach rumbled loudly and she began to sit up. Only then did she notice the girl sitting next to her. She looked older than Naruko by a few years. She had black eyes and long brown hair. Naruko would say the girl was pretty, but not in the way Hinata-chan was. No instead she had a sort of earthly beauty. Naruko wasn't really sure how to describe it but the girl was pretty. The girl gently placed her hands on Naruko's back and helped her to sit up.

"Easy there, you passed out from starvation. I'll go get you some food, just sit tight okay?" Naruko nodded and watched as the girl went and left the room. She comes back with a bowl of something that smelled amazing. She gently placed a wooden board on Naruko's lap and then placed the bowl and some sticks on top of it. Steam was rising from the bowl and it was filled with a brownish -orange liquid. In addition there were various foods she had never seen before, in particular some long stringy looking things. She looked at the girl who just nodded. Naruko shrugged and dipped her hand in to scoop out the food, only to wince and yank it back.

"Are you okay!?"

With a look of distrust she asked the girl, "How am I supposed to eat this stuff? It's so hot." She looked down at her hand and saw that it was burned red.

The girl ignored the question in favor of checking on the burn. After a bit she sighed and asked. "Do you know what chopsticks are?" Naruko shook her head. The girl pointed to the sticks she had placed down and said. "You are supposed to use those to pick up the food since it's too hot to use your hands. And also it's cleaner that way." Naruko didn't really get it, nor did she understand how she was supposed to use these chopsticks, it looks inconvenient. The girl sighed and said, "I'll feed you for now, and then I'll teach you how to use chopsticks once that burn is healed up, alright?" Naruko was still a bit suspicious but she agreed nonetheless. The girl picked up the chopsticks and gathered the food in them. That doesn't look that inconvenient actually. "Say 'ahh'"

"Ahh." The girl placed the food in her mouth and Naruko felt her mind just about break. She didn't know food could taste this good. She had figured that the food the Matron had been giving her was worse than food normal people eat, for example that one mans apples weren't fuzzy, but she didn't think it would actually taste so good. Despite her best efforts she can feel tears welling up in her eyes. She just couldn't help it, she had never thought eating could make her so happy. She couldn't stop the tears even as a smile came to her face.

"What's wrong? Did you not like the taste? I can get you something else if you'd like." Naruko shook her head and responds.

"No, I've just never had anything so tasty." This seems to both upset the girl and make her happy. Naruko wasn't sure why but the girl didn't explain and Naruko didn't ask. The girl gathered up more of the food and she opened her mouth without any coaxing this time. She eagerly eats it up and asks while chewing "Whash thish shtuff called anywaysh?"

"It's called ramen. My father makes it for a living, and it's my dream to help him and one day run the shop myself." Naruko didn't get what this girls dreams had to do with what her father does, but she didn't question it.

Naruko finished eating and swallowed as she responds with, "This stuff is so good, thanks for letting me eat some Nee-san." Naruko started to get up, not ready to receive more of this strangers kindness.

"Nope get back down. You're not leaving that bed until you've finished this meal." Is that what this thing is called? A bed? Interesting.

"I don't have any money to pay you for it." She stopped trying after the shopkeepers would shoo her away after taking her money.

"I'm not charging you for it silly. I'm feeding you because you need to eat, now eat." Naruko quits trying to argue and quietly continues to eat the amazing food. She'd have to figure out a way to have more ramen in the future.

"Thank you Nee-san. . . Hey Nee-san, what's your name?"

"Ichiraku Ayame, and you?"

"Uzumaki Naruko."

"Well nice to meet you Naruko." Naruko nodded feeling it was in fact nice to meet Ayame-nee. "Would you like to meet my father? He's the one who made your ramen." Naruko nods and Ayame gets up and leaves the room again.

She returns a short while later with an older man following behind her. "Name's Ichiraku Teuchi, nice to meet you kid."

"Hi Ojisan."

* * *

He had never in his life felt that he had failed more than in the moment he saw her collapse. He had recognized her as Kushina's kid immediately, the resemblance was too uncanny for her to be anyone else. She looked like her mother in almost every way, with the only exceptions being her vibrant blue eyes that she clearly inherited from her father, and the two cowlicks around her bangs that sort of look like horns, or maybe they're ears. Well it's just hair sticking up, he doesn't know what he's on about.

The girl was clearly a perfect mix of his two favorite customers. And she had been starving on the streets. What has this village come to where their heroes child has to suffer like this? He'd make sure she doesn't have to starve ever again, even if it means giving away free meals or marking down the prices as far lower for her. If she's anything like her mother she'll be too stubborn to take a freebie even when he insists.

"Name's Ichiraku Teuchi, nice to meet you kid."

"Hi Ojisan." Much to his surprise the cowlicks flattened all on their own and her hair now truly looked identical to Kushina's.

"Hey kid, how would you like to start living with us?"

"I don't want to be a burden."

"Trust me you won't be a burden."

"What about how the villagers will look at you?" That just about broke his heart, she wasn't even five years old and she was already aware of how they treat her. This village really had gone to hell after the fourth died.

"I don't mind."

"I-I don't want to live with anyone other than Nee-chan." Now that caught him by surprise. Who was this Nee-chan and why wasn't she feeding her.

"Who's your nee-chan?"

"I can't remember."

"Do you remember anything about her?"

"I can sorta remember the colors red and black." So maybe an Uchiha then, or one of Kushina's students perhaps. He'd talk to her if she ever stops by the shop again, same with Mikoto if she decides to drop by.

"Do you really not want to stay?"

"Yeah."

"I won't keep you then, but you gotta make me a promise."

"What is it?"

"If you ever get hungry like that again, or at all really, you'll come here for a meal, alright?"

"Alright."

"You promised me, and remember, an Uzumaki doesn't break a promise."

"Okay, thank you Ojisan."

* * *

After her encounter things sort of stabilized for Naruko. She had started taking shelter in that same hollow she first slept in, as it protected her from the rain and helped trap some heat so she wasn't terribly cold during the night. More importantly though is that she was getting at least one meal a day. She definitely still got hungry, but she was never starving like she had been. She can't even begin to tell the Ichiraku family how grateful she is for all the help they've given her. She knew that they heavily discounted her meals if she tried to pay, and often times they just preemptively told her it's free.

But that wasn't all, she had also figured out that she can raid the trash of restaurants to get left over scraps. It wasn't good, in fact it tasted really bad most the time. But she was at least able to get by without having to burden the Ichiraku family too badly. She swore she'd pay them back for all the help one day.

She was on her way to do her usual routine when she was reminded of something, or rather someone, very important. The reminder came in the form of a person with white eyes, that looks very similar to a blind persons. She hadn't seen Hinata-chan in six weeks. Does the girl still remember her, does she even still care? Naruko wasn't sure how she'd feel if the answers were no, but she had to find out.

So to the park she went. And then to the ground she went. It seemed Hinata-chan missed her a lot. As soon as she arrived she had been knocked to the ground from the force of Hinata-chan hugging her. Normally she tries to struggle out when Hinata-chan tries to cuddle her like this, but this time she just leaves it. She's missed her best friend more than she realized.

* * *

"Where have you been?!" Hinata didn't hesitate to get straight to the issue at hand, a far cry from how she would have behaved had this been a year ago (of course she didn't know Naruko-chan back then). The point is, her best friend has been missing for six weeks and she wasn't about to let this go unanswered.

"I got kicked out of the orphanage." Hinata never did like the Matron of the orphanage and this only cemented that.

"Why didn't you come to me for help?"

"I don't know where you live." Had she really not had Naruko-chan over once since they met? She glances at Ko-san before turning back to Naruko-chan. She would drop this issue for now, she had another issue. Naruko-chan was thinner than before, a lot thinner. She had always known she hadn't been eating properly and had been helpless to fix it, but now it seemed like she was on the brink of starving.

"Have you been eating?"

"Yes."

"Naruko-chan."

"Yes."

"Naruko."

"No."

"I thought so." Hinata only had to stare her down until she spoke truthfully. Naruko-chan knows well enough by now that she can't lie to her very well. She looked Naruko-chan over. She had been living on the streets and starving but she wasn't crying. Naruko-chan always seemed to have an unbreakable will, and she wasn't about to let her own tears spoil that. She wanted to cry for her, but she wouldn't. Especially since the girl in question hates to see her cry.

"So do you wanna play something?"

"Sure, wanna play house?"

"I was thinking ninja."

"We always play ninja, let's play house."

"Ninja."

"House."

"Ninja."

"House."

"I can keep going."

"So can I. You clearly haven't been eating enough so we're playing house so you don't get tired."

"Fine."

* * *

Ko activated his Byakugan as soon as he saw the girl. It wasn't pretty. Besides just being all around dirty she was also terribly thin. It looked like she could collapse at any moment with how thin she is. He had to hold back a grimace so as not to alert the girls to the issue. He wouldn't be surprised if the girl was constantly feeling hunger pains and had just grown used to it. Whatever the case it's clearly not enough for a child to grow properly. He makes eye contact with the heiress as the young red head mentions not knowing where they live. That works then, even if Hiashi-sama punishes him for it, he'd bring her to the clan to have a decent meal and learn where they live. He watches on, letting them play for a few hours before calling the heiress.

"Hinata-sama it's time for us to return home, you have etiquette training today." Which is true, a delegation from Kumo would be arriving in two months and the Hyuuga family would be hosting them for the peace talks. She, as the heiress, would have to be perfect in order to maintain the clans image.

"Can we stay just a little longer please?" It was clear she didn't want to leave her friend and he wasn't about to make her.

"I can't let you stay but tell you what. If Naruko-san would like, she can come back with us to meet your father and if he allows it have dinner with you." He was planning on inviting her over before Hinata-sama had given him that look. After seeing it however he knew she had been thinking the same thing. It was almost scary, how much she took after her father. He thought it was ridiculous that the elders believe she isn't suitable to be the heiress.

"Thanks Ko." The red head smiled warmly at him. She had brightened a lot since the first time he saw her. He actually finds it almost hard to believe that he once thought of her as a demon or second class citizen. But hatred is a funny thing in that it doesn't care about rationality.

He quickly escorts the two girls to the clan compound. The guards don't stop him but it's clear from their expression that they are not to fond of Hinata-sama's company. He ignores it however and takes the two girls to Hiashi-sama's office. He lets out a few sharp knocks and waits for Hiashi to respond. It doesn't take long for the mans stern voice to call them into the room.

* * *

He hated paperwork. It ate into his day far too much for his taste. If Hiashi could have things his way he wouldn't have to do any paperwork and could instead spend his days furthering his skills and spending time with his daughter and pregnant wife. Instead he got to spend the majority of his day in his office doing paperwork and listening to the reports from his clan members. He didn't really hate listening to the reports, it was always a good way to see more directly how his clan is doing. Of course his favorite reports were the ones Ko gave. Because he always got to hear about his daughter. He loved his daughter more than life itself. Of course he couldn't show that as he had an image to maintain as head of the clan, another thing he hates about the position, but he truly did love her. It never failed to make his day when she would hug him.

So of course he was plenty eager when he heard the knocks on his door. Ko always gave his reports right on time and today would be no different.

"Enter." He didn't look up from his paperwork. Ko knows better than to disturb him from finishing his current document. Hiashi spent the next few minutes continuing the paperwork before he was rather rudely interrupted. The voice wasn't one he recognized but it sounded like a young girl.

"So you're Hinata-chan's dad right?" This had to be Naruko then. He looked up and he wasn't prepared for the sight before him. He had known she was Minato and Kushina's daughter. But the resemblance was down right uncanny. The girl had long red hair that perfectly matched her mothers in it's color. In fact she looks just like her mother did back when they were in the Academy. Well she would, if not for her bright blue eyes that belonged to her father. And not just in the color department. She had the same look in her eyes as her father, one that looks straight through a person. Well not quite the same. Where his had been honed and refined into a tool for war, her seemed more wild like that of an animal that could innately perceive if someone is a threat. He suspects that she doesn't even realize that she is doing it. He had to hold back a smile, it felt like he was seeing his best friend for the first time in nearly five years. It was nostalgic feeling, and he couldn't help but enjoy it. "Hello?" Right he hadn't answered her, perhaps the nostalgia was to much even for him.

"Yes, I'm her father. I take it you're the Naruko I've heard _so_ much about?" He had to hold back another smile as his daughter blushed. She had, of course, talked about her best friend nearly endlessly since they first met. But her stories weren't actually what he was referring too. No he was referring to how that stupid couple had never shut up about how much they'd spoil their daughter. Seriously since the moment they found out Kushina was pregnant the two love birds had never stopped talking about it. Though to be fair he had done the same in private (he couldn't be doting in public as the clan head after all) when he found out Hitomi was pregnant with Hinata. So he guessed it was only fair. The other three didn't know the history behind this however and assumed he was referring to Hinata. Which is true, he had heard his daughters endless worries every day for the past six weeks since the girl first went missing. He'd have to ask Ko about that later, seeing as the boy was giving him a look signaling he has something important to tell him. And given that he brought Naruko here without his permission and with risk of punishment, it was obvious who it concerns. Of course he wouldn't punish the boy for it, he was happy to see his friends daughter.

"Hai, Otou-sama this is my best friend, Naruko-chan." The girl had calmed down from her blush and had actually given a look of surprising determination. It would be fierce if she wasn't four and wasn't his adorable daughter. In fact he was sure that his wife would be cooing right now if she saw this. Especially since she used to behave the same around Kushina in the academy when people mocked her for her red hair. She, Kushina, and Mikoto had been best friends right until the end. So he couldn't help but smile at his daughter. She really did take after her mother. A Hyuuga doesn't abandon those they call friends, and his little girl was no exception.

"Well in that case welcome Naruko-san." He turned his attention back to the red head. He hadn't noticed it before since he was blinded by nostalgia, but the girl was thin. She was dirty too. He was beginning to understand just why Ko had brought her here. "Hinata, why don't you and Naruko wait out in the hall for a moment, I need to talk with Ko privately."

"Hai, Otou-sama. Come on Naruko-chan." The two girls exited the room with Hinata leading the smaller girl by the hand.

He turned his attention to Ko and said, "Report."

"She was kicked out of the orphanage several weeks ago, and seems to have been living on the streets. From what I could tell she's barely had a decent meal in that entire time." An audible snap echoed through the room. The pen he'd had in his hand snapped. Well it'd be more accurate to say he snapped the pen in his anger.

His eyes turned cold as he thanked Ko. "You made the right choice bringing her here. Go take her to be bathed and then she can go and be introduced to Hitomi. Oh and make sure she's fed and given a change of clothes." He would need to speak with the Hokage. The man had rejected his adoption request. Clearly the orphanage wouldn't take her and he wanted answers. He hoped the man wasn't aware of the issue, but he wasn't going to hold his breath.

Ko bowed to him and left the office. He could faintly hear him relaying the orders through the door. Oh he forgot to tell Hinata that he'd let her have her etiquette lessons off today. Well he can do that when he gets back. He suddenly needs to have an urgent meeting with the Hokage.

* * *

Hinata-chan's dad was cool. He looked sorta mean on the outside but she could tell he was nice on the inside. At least whenever he looked at her or Hinata-chan. Apparently he had ordered Ko-san to escort her to their bath. She didn't really get the point of bathing or how she's supposed to do it. Whenever the Hag had wanted her clean she would just take her outside and spray her down with a hose. The water was always cold and she didn't really like it. So she was very surprised when there was a massive pool of water in the house. She was even more surprised when she dipped her foot in and it was warm. She thought water was just always cold for cleaning. But this, this was so comfortable.

She quickly got in the water and realized a problem. She has no idea what to do. Does she just swim around in the water? She shrugged and called through the door to the bathroom. "Hey Hinata-chan or Ko-san!"

After a bit she gets a response, it's from Hinata-chan. "Yes?"

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Do you see a pink block near the water? Rub that against yourself until you're not dirty." Naruko looked around and found what she was talking about. She wasn't sure how long that would take or what counts as not being dirty. Still she did as instructed and started dragging it along her skin. It felt weird with how slippery it was and she dropped it more than a few times. But it sorta felt nice and it smelled like Hinata-chan. She decided to just keep going until it felt right. She ended up using the entire bar.

She walked out of the bathroom and found Hinata-chan waiting for her. The girl gave her a set of clothes which she tried to put on and failed. She had never worn anything other than shorts and shirts before so this weird robe like thing was weird for her. She was told it's a kimono and Hinata-chan helped her put it on and tie it. She had to admit it was sorta pretty and it was definitely comfortable. She could see why Hinata-chan wore these all the time.

"Come on, let's go meet Okaa-sama." Hinata-chan led her into another room and similar to her experience at the park today, she was once again grabbed before she could even comprehend anything. Though this time she was lifted into the air. The woman looked like a big version of Hinata-chan. This must be her mom.

"She's adorable! And so small! She's so cute how could you not bring her here sooner?" Naruko didn't even know what to make of this as the woman cuddled her relentlessly. She could see where Hinata-chan gets it from.

* * *

"Good evening Hokage-sama."

"Ah, what brings you around today Hiashi?"

"Are you aware of Uzumaki Naruko's situation?"

"Yes."

"Forgive my impertinence by why have you not done anything about it?"

"It was a test to see if the demon would lash out against the village. You know as well as I that I would have to put her down if she's a threat and I felt this was a good way to find out."

"Clearly she's not. She's just a starving child."

"I wouldn't be so sure. She's been sleeping in the Forest of Death. And she's somehow gotten the tigers to defend her from the Anbu following her." That came as a surprise to Hiashi. Those tigers were extremely aggressive and could often threaten new jonin let a lone a four year old.

"She found out about her Anbu tail?" He had assumed Anbu were tailing her as soon as the Kage said that he was aware of Naruko's situation.

"No. It seems the beasts are just doing it naturally. Either it's a kekkei genkai or they are submitting to a truly apex predator."

"So you still believe her to be a demon?"

"I believe her to be a potential threat."

"Those are one in the same." Hiashi sighed, he wasn't going anywhere with this. "Are you going to let me finally adopt her?"

"No."

"Are you going to do anything, at all, to help her?"

"Indeed. Once she's done playing at your house a few Anbu agents will escort her to her new apartment."

"What about food."

"She's getting by." Hiashi wanted so desperately to scream at the Kage for this nonsense but he wouldn't. This man was the god of shinobi for a reason and that wasn't limited to his prowess on the battlefield. He had some sort of plan, even if it seemed foolish. Hiashi had no place to argue with the aged Kage even if he desperately wanted to.

"Hokage-sama I don't think she's the demon. She may not be normal but she's not the demon. I don't believe treating a civilian like this is right, let alone the daughter of the villages heroes. That being said I have faith in your judgment and won't argue the point further. Just please, keep in mind what we're sacrificing if you're wrong."

"I'll keep it in mind."

"By your leave then Hokage-sama."

"Go enjoy your time with your family."

* * *

Hiashi wasn't surprised in the slightest by the scene he came home to. His wife had Naruko locked in a hug and was nuzzling the little girl to death. Well she was being nuzzled to death if Naruko's squirming and plea for help was anything to go by. His wife noticed him rather quickly and grinned at him. God she's gorgeous.

"She looks just like her."

"Believe me I know." He looked toward his daughter and saw she was sporting an impressive pout. God she was cute. He supposed he can ignore proper decorum for today, his girls deserve that much. He asked his daughter, "Do you want to trade places with Naruko?"

The girl shakes her head and states. "I want to swap with Okaa-sama. Every time I try and do this with Naruko-chan she breaks free." The two adults look at her and laugh. Hitomi has always been the cuddly type and she used to make a game of trying to cuddle Kushina back in the academy. It seems they really do take after their mothers. Especially since Kushina hated being cuddled by anyone other than Minato, and even then she often tried to break away.

"I see, well if you don't want her to break free you'll have to get stronger than her."

Speaking of breaking free Naruko triumphantly shouted "Freedom!" as she managed to get out of his wife's grip (who was still laughing). Only to then immediately be grabbed by Hinata.

"No fair Okaa-sama. You already have Otou-sama, Naruko-chan is mine."

"Why can't I also be friends with your mom?"

"You were my friend first."

"But I can also be friends with your mom. I won't stop being friends with you."

"Promise?"

"I promise. And an Uzumaki doesn't break a promise." Hiashi and Hitomi felt like they just got punched in the gut by nostalgia. They don't know where she heard that but Kushina used to say it all the time. It was one of her biggest points of pride.

Hiashi coughs to get their attention. "Hinata you have today off with your lessons. You can just play today."

The way his daughters face lit up at that was all he needed to see to know that he made the right decision. He already knew he'd be hopeless if his next child is also a girl.

* * *

Naruko had weird feelings about the rain. She had hated it while she'd been living in the orphanage. The cracks of thunder had scared her when she was locked in that closet. Later when she became friends with Hinata-chan the rain meant that they wouldn't get to play that day. But those things were both no longer true. The animal people had given her an apartment. As a result she could actually watch the rain and enjoy the soft sound on her windows. Not only that, but she's no longer reliant on the weather being good to see Hinata-chan at the park, since they could just go to Hinata-chan's house or her own apartment.

That was the plan for today. Hinata-chan had some clan stuff to do, but after she was done she was gonna come over for a sleepover (with Ko as a chaperon). It wouldn't be their first sleep over and Naruko certainly hoped it wouldn't be their last. She glanced at the clock on her table, 7:55. Hinata-chan was supposed to be over in about five minutes.

She glanced towards the clock and thought about the day she got it. It had been the first time she had done any form of celebrating her birthday. The celebration was simple, they (being herself, Hinata-chan and Ko) just went to the Ichiraku's for dinner. The Hokage even showed up and promised to take her to dinner when he's free next (which would end up taking about a week but hey she still got free ramen out of him). Hinata-chan had given her a brush, stating that Naruko should "Take better care of her beautiful hair." The red head loved the brush and had taken to using it everyday. Of course Hinata-chan wasn't the only one to give her something. She was given a frog wallet by a frog. Wait no, the frog called itself a toad. It was confusing. Anyways, she liked it but would have sort of preferred a rabbit wallet. She just really liked rabbits. One of the animal people had given her the clock. He had hilariously spiky white hair. He had said something about it being important to always be on time. She didn't really get it but she liked it anyways. The Ichiraku family had given her coupons for seven free meals at their shop. The last gift she received might have actually been her favorite. It was a music box. The sender didn't show their face or say anything, not even a letter was written. But the box played that song she always liked to hum.

A loud clap of thunder drew her attention back to the window. Rain was softly pelting it and the haze of lights and rain blended together to make the village look bigger than it really was. She loved the view from her apartment. She had never realized just how pretty the village could be until she could see nearly the entire thing from above. She had to say, getting this apartment was the best thing to happen to her since meeting Hinata-chan.

She looked back towards her clock and she excitedly realized it was eight. Hinata-chan always arrived right on time so Naruko quickly ran to her front door and swung it open. No one was there. Okay maybe she was just running late, the family stuff could have run long. So she waited. And waited. And waited some more. It was nine now and there was still no sign of Hinata-chan. Where was she? She'd keep waiting, Hinata-chan wouldn't abandon her, right? So she waited. And waited. And still she waited. Another hour passes and there was still no sign of Hinata-chan. And so Naruko sat at the table, staring numbly at the door. She could feel a chill creeping into her, it was that same way she always felt back in that closet. Alone and empty.

She didn't know when it happened but she must have drifted to sleep. Because she dreamed of Hinata-chan. But she was crying for her help. She dreamed of a man made of lightning carrying her away. And she dreamed of the terror that Hinata-chan was feeling. It had to have been a dream because she shot out of her chair as her eyes snapped open. Her heart was beating wildly. She glanced towards the clock. 10:30. She had to look for her. Maybe she was at the park. As she left the apartment she noticed something odd, her reflection in the window looked different than usual. Her hair seemed white and she seemed a little paler. She didn't have time to dwell on it. She always seemed to think her hair was white when she woke up, and that was probably the case once again.

She arrived at the park quickly. She wasn't sure how long or how fast she had run but she was sure it was faster than normal. There was no sign of Hinata-chan. She shuddered as the cold November rain hit her. She was still in her pajamas and she was still barefoot. She continued to look around, extending her search into the nearby forest. Still no Hinata-chan. She winced as she stepped on something sharp. Her foot was bleeding and it hurt a lot, but she couldn't dwell on it. Her heart rate was still rising as she panicked more and more.

"**Stay still. Take a deep breath**." She hadn't heard the voice from her dreams in months but here it was. She struggled to do as instructed but after what felt like ages she had evened out her breath and stopped all movement. The world itself seemed to change after a minute of this. Suddenly she could feel everything. Looking toward the village she could almost see a vast sea of fire. But she wasn't seeing it with her eyes. It was like she was using some body part she didn't even know she had. She looked down and saw that her foot had healed the cut already. She didn't know what compelled her to do so but she grabbed the the sharp thing. It was a discarded kunai.

"_Help. I'm scared."_

She didn't know how but she could feel the plea for help. Similar to how she could feel the fire in the village. On the other side of the village she could feel it. She could feel lightning. And more importantly she could feel Hinata-chan. She didn't know how she knew it was Hinata-chan, but her instincts were screaming that it was. So she ran.

"_Someone. Anyone. Please._"

The world turned into a blur as she ran. Between the darkness of night and the blur she could barely see a thing, but still she could sense the way. It didn't take long for her to arrive at the two feelings. The world came back into focus as she slowed. There was a man. He was carrying a sack that was squirming. She could tell he was the man made of lightning. Hinata-chan was in the bag she just knew it.

"Hey you! Let Hinata-chan go!" The man seemed surprised that she was there and whirled around.

"Oh it's just a kid. Piss off you albino freak."

"I don't know what albino means but I'm the freak who'll kick your ass if you don't let her go!"

The man sighed and said. "I gave you a chance kid, now I gotta get rid of the witness."

Naruko didn't have time to think as she felt another presence approaching, she instinctively recognized it. It wasn't here yet but she would still call out to it. "Hiashi-san, this guys got Hinata-chan!" The man actually seemed frightened by that and turned to look for him. In an instant Naruko ran forward and grabbed the bag, using the kunai to cut it open. Inside was a terrified Hinata-chan. Naruko barely got a chance to cut her bindings before she received a powerful kick that sent her into a tree.

Her head was ringing as she looked toward the man. He had grabbed Hinata-chan again. Naruko didn't have time to think, she ran forward and tried to stab the man with the kunai. He almost dodged it completely, but it cut into his arm making him drop Hinata-chan. Naruko quickly dropped the kunai and moved Hinata-chan away. This time Naruko managed to remove the gag. "Are you Okay Hinata-chan?" She didn't care about the man right now, her friend was more important.

"Y-yeah, I- Watch out!" her warning came too late as the man grabbed Naruko by the back of the head and smashed her into another tree.

"Just for that kid I'll make sure you die painfully."

"Stop please! I'll go with you! Just please stop hurting her!" The man turned toward Hinata-chan.

"I've got a better idea." Faster than either of them could react he grabbed Hinata-chan and held Naruko's kunai up. "Before I kill you, I'll let you see why ninja's aren't heroes." He swung the kunai down and Hinata let out a pained scream as it dug into her thigh. "Are you happy? I'm going to cripple her and it's all your fault. Now then, the next one is going into her knees."

Naruko stood up shakily. Her face was a bloody mess and she could barely see with how much her head was spinning. But it didn't matter, she knew what he was doing and knew she had to stop him. The man looked at her and laughed. "I don't know what kind of jutsu you used to change your pigment like that but it looks like it ran out." Her hair had changed back to red, and more strikingly her eyes hadn't returned to their blue. Instead they had turn into an amethyst purple.

"Please. Don't hurt her anymore. I'm sorry. Just please, she doesn't deserve this."

"Well it doesn't matter, you made your choices and now your friend has to live with them." The man swung the kunai down. Naruko saw red.

* * *

Hiashi's day had gone from stressful to very stressful. It was supposed to be fine. Peace talks between two villages with the Hyuuga clan as the host. It had gone great. The two villages signed a treaty and it looked like Kumo and Konoha could finally let bygones be bygones. Then his wife unexpectedly went into labor. He had stupidly in his worry for his wife not considered the ramifications of leaving his eldest with only a small guard while foreign nin were in his home.

He had continued to not consider the ramifications until the doctors found out while helping his wife deliver that she had been given a drug that would not only weaken her, but would also send her into labor early. He grimaced just thinking about it. It was pretty much made to ensure that the mother dies in childbirth. Fortunately his wife would be alright. Minato's only female student happened to already be working today. She had in the years since his death become the best active medic nin in the village. Rin Noihara was only a step or two down from Tsunade-sama and she had used that skill to ensure his wife pulled through. It was only once his wife was fine that he realized the problem. Someone drugged his wife. The culprits were obvious and he had left his daughter essentially helpless.

His mistake cost him as he found her and the Kumo ninja gone, as well as several dead guards. He didn't hesitate to mobilize the clan and begin searching himself. He was an expert tracker and it didn't take him terribly long to find the man. He could already see them with his Byakugan. He also got to see the man stab his daughter and the bloodied form of one Uzumaki Naruko as she pleaded desperately for the man to stop. Hiashi cursed his lack of speed.

He managed to arrive just on time for him to see the man swing the kunai down. He was too late.

* * *

His shoulders tensed before he was even aware of the chakra. Memories of a burning Konoha and his dead wife came back to him as he felt that same awful chakra. He was shaking like he was genin meeting Ibiki for the first time. A quick glance at the Anbu hidden in his office showed they were handling it worse than he was.

The feeling of this chakra was like dread incarnate. He gritted his teeth. He was the Hokage dammit! He pulsed his own chakra through his system (similar to how he'd dispel a Genjutsu). It worked as he hoped and had a calming effect. He had to move, it would seem the demon is finally making its move.

He arrived at the source with several of his top Anbu in tow (they had been the only ones able to overcome it fast enough to arrive with him). It had only taken him 11 seconds to arrive since he first felt the chakra but it would seem it's already over. The heavy rain obscured any moonlight, so they could only just barely see what had happened.

There in the clearing was Naruko Uzumaki standing before the corpse of a very dead Kumo ninja. Huddled defensively behind her was an uninjured Hyuuga Hinata. A stunned Hiashi was standing to the side of the clearing. The man seemed to snap out of it as he arrived. The aged kage turned back to Naruko. Her hair was that same white from the night of her birth, and her eyes were the same as the demons. Red ringed with the tomoe of the Sharingan. A dangerous red chakra swirled around the girl. Grasped in her hand was the heart of the Kumo ninja giving it's last beats as it futilely tries to cling to life.

"Naruko-san, are you still in there?" The girl whipped around toward him as he spoke. He had to suppress a shudder as he looked directly into those eyes that wished only for destruction. She didn't speak in response to his words, only taking a defensive posture before the Hyuuga heiress. Well then, the demon at least isn't in complete control or she certainly would have killed the other girl.

"Naruko-chan. It's okay. I'm safe." Those words seemed to do the trick as the girls hair returned to the same red she inherited from her mother. Oddly her eyes didn't return to the blue of her father, instead turning to an amethyst purple. He didn't get to look for long as the girl passed out and fell. Hiashi reacted quickly and caught the girl. The rain continued to pour as it washed away the blood covering her small form.

"Tell me everything that happened." He said, looking at Hiashi.

"The Kumo ambassador kidnapped my daughter after trying to assassinate my wife. I don't know why Naruko was here. She seemed to have fought him, as when I arrived he had injured my daughter and Naruko. He was about to cripple Hinata when Naruko used its power. Faster than I could react the man was dead and that was the scene you arrived to."

Hiruzen swept an eye toward the redhead. He was prepared to put her down, but it would seem she had protected a valuable asset to Konoha. And was sensible enough to not blindly lash out at comrades. This was good. This was the exact kind of thing he had been hoping for. If she would harness this power for the village then it would be unrivaled. He doubted anyone would dare to offend Konoha if news of this got out. But he had to stave off the information from spreading that the girl exists for now. It'd be bad if someone foreign got a hold of her before she was loyal.

The aged Kage turned and gave orders to the other people present. "No one is to ever speak of what happened here tonight. As far as anyone is concerned Hyuuga Hiashi killed this Kumo ninja for trying to kidnap his daughter and another child. If news of the truth spreads it will be on all of your heads." The Anbu acknowledged the order and faded into the shadows.

"Hai Hokage-sama. If you may I'd like to take these two to get some rest."

"Go ahead. Be prepared to be in my office tomorrow, you know as well as I do that Kumo will deny the kidnapping." The trap was obvious now that it had been sprung. He suspects that his cover up would have been the truth had the girl not shown up.

* * *

She didn't understand what her father meant by 'its power.' Obviously it was something Naruko-chan had done, but she didn't understand what that power was or why she had it. What she does know is that her friend saved her. She could still feel the pain in her thigh. Despite the fact that the wound seems to have disappeared. She didn't know how it had happened. She was bleeding a lot and then Naruko-chan killed the man and her wound had somehow healed.

She turned her attention to her unconscious friend. She had gotten so hurt protecting her. Hinata swore to herself that she'd return the favor. No matter what she'd protect Naruko-chan from now on.

She returned her attention to her father as he scooped her up. She nuzzled into his warm embrace. She hadn't realized how cold she was.

"Let's get you home, you've had a long day."

"Mmm."

"You've made a great friend, Hinata."

"Mmm."

"Tomorrow I'm going to declare her an ally of the clan. It's the least I can do after she protected you." She didn't manage to give another response as she drifted to sleep in his arms.

Obstructed by the rain and the darkness the kunai went unnoticed by anyone. It lays discarded. The dark form of the Kunai clashed with the spring flowers that had bloomed in the field. The flowers would slowly wither over the course of the night. Come morning the field would look just like the rest of the forest floor. Covered in autumn leaves and mud from the rain.

* * *

Hinata had changed after that day. She had started to request more training from her father. And any trace of the timid girl that needed saving from bullies was gone. She had to change to protect Naruko-chan. Where Hinata had begun to grow more outgoing Naruko-chan had grown less.

Hinata blamed the village for that. They had changed after that day. Before they had just been content to ignore her friend or to say rude things, but now they had taken to throwing rocks or trying to hit her if she got to close. So Hinata had taken to blocking those attacks (or failing that Ko would). She used it as a chance to both protect her friend and train even while they're together. She had gotten pretty good at catching rocks.

She was sure the shift in treatment had to do with that power. She wasn't sure why the village hated it but they did and that's all that matters. They hated her friend but they were cowards. They would always retreat when they realized their actions could have harmed Hinata, and by extension offended the Hyuuga for harming the heiress.

That night would be known as the Hyuuga affair. As a result of it her uncle had taken the place of her father and been executed in the name of paying back Kumo. A life for a life. She wasn't happy about it, why should anyone from her family have to die because of Kumo's betrayal? She wasn't the only one. It was clear her father mourned the loss of his brother dearly. And her cousin looked so broken. He didn't deserve to lose his father.

* * *

He was not surprised to find out the elders were against his support of Naruko. It had after all given the clan a lot of bad publicity. They were defending the demon that tried to destroy all that they hold dear. He didn't care. The girl had saved his daughter and she needed support. A ramen chef was no where near enough to stand against a village that hates her. He had quelled their worries by telling them of how she was loyal to the clan thanks to this and her power was worth more than some good publicity. They had eaten it up. He knew it wasn't true. She was loyal to Hinata. That much was apparent. But she seemed to look towards most others with apathy or caution.

The other clans of course weren't happy about him protecting the girl. They saw it as him vying for power. He wasn't, but they didn't really care. Still they could do nothing about it. It was a decision made for his clan and they had no room to interfere. So despite all the trouble that his decision had brought, he didn't regret it. The girl had helped his daughter more than she'd ever know. Plus he owed it to Minato and Kushina.

* * *

Have the demon killed. Denied. Have the demon banished. Denied. Have the demon locked in isolation. Denied. Have the demon bred. Denied. Someone in the village must have made the decision to give him a migraine. It felt like all he had done for the past several weeks was deny having Uzumaki Naruko killed or banished or any other manner of harm done to her. He gets it. They don't like her and think she's a demon. He doesn't really disagree with that. But none of the people sending him these requests seem to understand that she can actually be useful to the village.

God he should have handed her over to Danzo at birth. Now he can't without starting a civil war. Oh it might seem like it'd be fine. But the Uchiha clan was currently at odds with Danzo and if he she disappeared now then they would all know what he did. And that would likely push the Hyuuga clan to join arms with the Uchiha. The last thing he wants is to deal with that. So the girl can't be harmed. Not to mention the girl is aware enough now that it might be a breaking point if he sent her to Danzo. Which could spell the end for Konoha. His plan had worked but it was annoying to balance on this tightrope.

He was turned away from his apocalyptic thoughts by the toad that suddenly appeared on his desk. Well that's not a good sign. Well it's normally fine. But given recent events it's not a good sign. With a sigh he took the letter the toad was holding out for him. It was the usual report for the most part. Until he got to the end and he started asking about Naruko. He wasn't about to tell his student that the village wanted the girl dead. No instead he'd tell him about her little adventure in saving the Hyuuga heiress and how the clan has taken a liking to her. Of course Jiraiya wasn't stupid. He'd likely figure out the truth sooner rather than later.

Fortunately with the Kumo situation he had the perfect excuse to send the man on a long term mission to make sure the village isn't planning on doing anything after that ploy of theirs. Satisfied with his decision he wrote up the response, handed it to the toad (which swiftly popped into a cloud of smoke), and resumed his paperwork. His migraine also came back just as soon as he started. Though this time it wasn't actually because of Naruko or the villagers.

No this was because of his students student (his grandstudent perhaps?). The girl had finally been found after having gone missing for several years. She had gone chasing after Orochimaru, after he had been forced out of the village for his crimes. He ignored the pang of guilt. Hiruzen only technically had no involvement in those crimes. But that wasn't important at the moment. What was important however was that the girl didn't remember anything since the moment she caught up to Orochimaru. She remembers confronting him, and then nothing.

It was particularly concerning however as the memories themselves were gone. At least assuming Inoichi is telling the truth (which he didn't doubt he was, but caution is part of the job). So that just brings the question of what to do with her. She had left the village without permission, and essentially been a missing nin for the past few years. But she did bring Orochimaru's unique techniques to the village and squandering those for something as simple as wanting answers seemed wasteful. No she would be demoted, and barred from achieving a rank higher than Tokubetsu Jonin, but she wouldn't receive any further punishment. It was up to her to work her way back up from genin.

He thought about the Jonin that had found her. Kurenai had impressed him. Truly she had. In the short two years since she was separated from Naruko she had improved from a low B-rank chunin to an A-rank Jonin. Of course she still had a long way to go until she hits S-rank and can even consider being an elite Jonin. But still she had yet to fail even a single A-rank mission. He had known this would work. She would likely be an S-rank ninja in the next few years and the trouble he put her through will have been worth it. Not to mention it does seem like he managed to get Naruko to latch on to him if only a little. That's really all he needs to ensure she is loyal to the village.

Things looked good for Konoha, they had recovered nicely under his leadership and he'd say they're only going to get stronger from here.

* * *

She wasn't sure what to make of the feeling. It was the only way she could describe it. It was that same feeling from the night Hinata-chan was kidnapped. Ever since that night that feeling would come back whenever she slept and for a little while after she woke up. It was reassuring to feel the people she cared about every morning but it was overshadowed. Every morning she felt it. Out in that sea of flames known as Konoha is hatred. Pure hatred. And she could feel just who it was directed at. Every morning she woke to the feeling of the villages hatred for her. She couldn't help herself when she started to look at them differently. The malice was too much for her. She hadn't told anyone about this. She didn't even know how to describe what it was. But she knew one thing for sure. The feeling told her the truth about people. For example there was one source of fire larger than any other in the village. And that source of fire disliked her just as much as everyone else. She couldn't trust him, just like the voice said.

* * *

A/N Well just about two weeks later and here is chapter 2 as promised. Thank you so much to everyone who for all the fav's and follows. And an especially big thank you to everyone for the reviews. You guys are awesome and I can really feel the love. Anyways, mushy stuff aside, what did you all think? It roughly tells the same story as the original chapter two except it's way longer, and has actual foreshadowing for the future. It also you know, has detail and editing. Well if nothing else I think it's a tremendous improvement. Next chapter should be out once again in approximately two weeks to a month (though I'd like to have it done for the anniversary of the original creation). Alright well this has been running long so I'll end it here, hope to see you all in the next one.

"P.S. Should I split up super long chapters in the future? Let me know so I can make the reading experience better for you. I personally like really long chapters but I only have my own perspective."

CM 10/8/2019


	3. Days of Our Youth

They say that when it rains it pours. He couldn't help but agree with the sentiment. The thunder clouds had rolled in from the east. He smiled and let out a sigh of relief. He loved the rain. But he also despised it. He loved it because it reminds him of home and it gave him a break from his jutsu for a few hours. He hated it because it reminded him of what he lost, what he continues to lose every single day. He turned a single ringed eye towards the east. He could feel it. The power he sought was there. The power to change the world. Buried inside of a young girl, waiting to be harnessed. He turned his gaze down to the streets below. Children played unaware of the horrors that the world had waiting. This was what he wanted, for these children to, hopefully, never be made aware of the horrors of war, of violence, of cruelty. For these children to never have to go through what he had. A cough drew his attention and he stepped away from the balcony and into the warmer skyscraper. "You look like you want to ask something, Kakuzu."

The man in question was dressed in a black cloak adorned by red clouds. He had green eyes. More strikingly were his black sclera. Of course most would comment on the tendrils of thread that writhed from within his mask, but most never see him without his mask. "If I may, why don't we just capture the container now? She hasn't learned to use it's power yet, and the village is crippled. It seems like now is the perfect opportunity."

"I understand your concern and you're correct in your concerns. If we wanted to forcefully take her, now would be the perfect time to do so. But if for some reason she were to unleash it on us while we weren't prepared, then every last one of us would die. More than that, it's better for us to have the girl containing it and to join us willingly, then to see us as kidnappers and as threats."

"And how shall we do that?"

"Konoha is already doing it for us. They are pushing her away, tormenting her. So all we need to do, is give her the chance to leave when the time is right."

"And when will that be?"

"When she knows pain." He turned his eyes towards the others in the room. They had remained silent up to this point. His eyes flickered between the other two men in the room. One wore an orange mask that revealed only a single eye, it was really his only unique trait. That is until you heard the man speak. Of course when it comes to voices the other man takes the prize for most bizarre. He did have two after all. Oh and his skin was split down the middle from being half bone white and half coal black. If that wasn't odd enough he had strange plant like appendages stemming from his shoulders making him look like a Venus Fly Trap. The two men said nothing, though the monochrome one smiled when he made eye contact. Finally his eyes flickered to the only woman among them. She had blue hair and orange eyes. In addition to that she had several piercings dotting her face. She was his oldest friend and the only living person he trusted completely. She understood him, and she knew his real reasons for not wanting to force the girl.

He didn't want to kill her. He wanted children to have a chance at becoming adults, and he didn't want to rob the girl of what little chance at joy she would have. Of course he did believe swaying her to his side would be easier than trying to make himself the new vessel. And who knows, maybe she won't have to know pain once she joins them. Whether she is ready for it or not, she would bring peace to this world. Be it as a smoldering ruin, or a paradise never before seen. He hoped to ensure the latter.

* * *

Humans are strange creatures. Or maybe she's just the strange one, of course as far as she can tell she's human (what with still being squishy and small), so maybe she's strange because she's human. Her best friend was strange but she like that about her. Where everyone else made sure the normal was to try and harm her, to varying degrees of success, her best friend tried to hurt others for trying to hurt her. And that was. . . well it was strange. Hinata-chan had grown to be a lot more vocal about her being under the Hyuuga-clan's, and the heiresses, protection. She had also gotten more physical about it, using those weird, but cool, finger strikes to disable the adults. Naruko had tried to imitate her when she was alone during the attacks, but she had just ended up poking them and then getting her arm broken for her efforts, so she gave up on trying to mimic Hinata-chan. She had asked Hinata-chan to teach her but she was told she would need the Byakugan for it to work. She had found herself wishing for a family for the first time in a long time. If she had a family then she would have already been receiving training. But the best she got were play fights with her friend who was far to skilled for it to actually help. So she gave up and figured she would wait for her entrance into Konoha's first ninja academy.

She hadn't actually had to wait all that long for her first day at the academy. It had only been a few short weeks after that realization that the new semester started up and she was preparing for her first day at the first ninja academy. Konoha was too large to have only one academy so multiple were in place with different levels of expectations placed upon the students. The first ninja academy had the highest among them, being the first academy founded in Konoha (hence the name) and being the one used exclusively by the clans and exceptional talents (as well as anyone fortunate enough to live close to it). Her enrollment into the prestigious institution was the gift she received from the Hokage (the old man in the hat) for her sixth birthday. She had asked why he enrolled her in the first and not the third (which was closer to her house) and he had stated that, "she has untapped potential that would be wasted in any institution but the best Konoha has to offer." She didn't really mind, it was the same academy Hinata-chan would be attending so she considered the extended time with her friend to be the real gift. She still didn't really trust the old man. It didn't help that every morning she woke up to his and Konoha's malice. Humans really are strange creatures, to not let that hatred relent for even a single day for nearly a year was, in a way, impressive. Of course that's just how things were. The people of Konoha hated her and she didn't care for them. She ignored them and they tried to harm her, that was just how the world worked.

She snapped out of her thoughts as her alarm clock went off. She always woke up before it went off, but she found it helped to focus her attention at the start of the day. She got it from the same man who gave her the clock that currently sat on her dining table. She thought it was a little weird to be receiving another clock for her sixth birthday, but he really seemed to want her to always be aware of the time. She had decided his hair was actually a light silver and not white like she initially thought. Of course she came to that decision while backed into an alleyway and being beaten by the villagers, who had managed to isolate her on most her recent birthday. Hinata-chan had warned her not to go out on her birthday, but she thought it would be fine to go and get the mail (A large man with a face similar to the Hokage always dropped it off for her around that time of the month). As it turned out it wasn't fine and she received a rather painful beating. She can't remember the last time she saw Hinata-chan so worried. Long story short the silver haired dog man saved her gave her a clock and then took her home to a worried Hinata-chan, who quickly turned into a sad and then angry Hinata-chan. Of course not at her, Hinata-chan never gets mad at her (okay well she does sometimes, but it was mostly driven by worry).

Hinata-chan had sorta been like that ever since she apparently saved her from that cloud ninja. Of course that's what she and Hiashi say, but Naruko only remembers her worry for Hinata-chan and then red and then nothing.

She looked at the clock on her table and realized she had been too lost in thought and hadn't actually been getting ready. Of course she woke up early so she wasn't late, she just wasn't as early as she normally was. Which well that's late she guesses, but she wouldn't be late to class is her point.

She quickly returned to her bedroom and got dressed, putting on a navy blue dress that had lavender accents that never failed to remind her of Hinata-chan. Of course it helped that Hinata-chan gave her this dress for her sixth birthday. When she asked why, her friend had said it complimented her hair and the lavender worked well with her eyes. It had been weird seeing her eyes go from blue to purple after the incident. What was even more weird was the shade seemed to change in the morning. Like when she first woke up it was a sort of violet purple, almost red really, but after a few minutes they would turn to the truer amethyst purple. She had no idea why it happened. Of course her body was weird in the morning. Like her hair (which she is currently brushing) for example. Every morning, without fail, two of her bangs would stand up and look sorta like horns (or rabbit ears, which she much preferred). She just chalked it up to being another weird thing about her. Her hair had grown longer, reaching down to her waist now. Hinata-chan thought her hair was pretty so she liked growing it out. It made her feel like her friend was there for her even when they weren't together. She finished brushing her hair and put her ramen in the microwave. Instant ramen was no match for Ichiraku's but it was still good. While she waits for it to cook she checks her other things. All her school supplies are in order. She's dressed and ready. Okay yeah, just breakfast and she's good. She spots a black pair of shorts and realizes that she's not as dressed as she thought. Hitomi had given her several pairs of black shorts along with Hinata-chan's dress and told her that a Kunoichi should always wear shorts under her dress. She didn't really get it, but Hitomi hadn't lied to her yet so she followed the advice. She quickly slipped on the shorts and her microwave beeped right as she finished. Perfect. She had a quick meal and set out, only to turn around and brush her teeth (she didn't understand why it was important, but everyone of the Hyuuga's had said she absolutely has to do it, so she did). Finally she set out, this time nothing was left undone.

It took her a little over half an hour to arrive at the academy. It wasn't a terribly long journey, but it is certainly not as easy as the five minute walk from her apartment to the third academy would have been. She heads inside the aged building. It looked clean and well kept but the age showed. It looked much more traditional in style than the rest of the buildings in Konoha, though not in the same way as the Hyuuga estate. She looked for room 103, the classroom she would be spending the next six years in. Of course that's assuming that she doesn't decide to become something other than a ninja. Truth be told she kind of wanted to see the world beyond Konoha's walls. Just like the hate she felt from within Konoha she felt none from outside of it, and it made her curious. Of course she's considered other options. Like being a florist for example. The last present she had received for her sixth birthday was several pots of soil and packs of seeds for different kinds of flowers. She had put them on the balcony and had taken to caring for them. When they finally bloomed she was in awe, everyone of the flowers were different, but each were a shade of red similar to her hair. She had no idea who sent it but she loved it.

She stirs from her thoughts as she finds room 103. She doesn't hesitate to step inside and quickly spots Hinata-chan. She was the only person in class with white eyes (it also helped that her Byakugan was active and she was waving.). It looked like her friend had been looking for her before she even stepped in the building. The veins signaling the use of the Byakugan ending and Hinata-chan's white (with a hint of lavender) eyes returned to normal. She smiled and quickly ran up the steps to her friend, sliding into the seat next to her. "Hey Hinata-chan!"

"Good morning, Naruko-chan." They exchanged hugs briefly and started to quietly talk about their first day of school. They were excited to say the least. About 10 minutes pass before other kids start to stream into the classroom, mostly one at a time, but sometimes in groups. One such group caught Naruko's attention. She looked at the trio of kids that entered. Or rather the duo that entered dragging the third kid. The first was a plump boy who was managing to eat a bag of potato chips with one hand while holding onto the hand of another boy with the other. Said boy seemed to be asleep if the faint snoring was anything to go by. Finally there was a blonde girl who was scolding the sleeping boy while pulling him by his other hand. Naruko guessed it made sense for others to enter the academy with their friends. The sleeping boy seems to finally stir awake only to mutter.

"Troublesome."

"Honestly Shika this is a little much even for you. Do you want your mom to yell at you?" The blonde girl asked in response.

"Troublesome."

The plump boy speaks up. "Calm down Ino you're being too harsh. Want a chip?"

"No thanks Choji," She sighed and continued speaking, "Well now that you're finally awake we can stop dragging you. Honestly you're too lazy." Naruko didn't really understand the interaction but she guessed it wasn't that different from when Hinata-chan or Ayame-nee scold her for not eating properly. That thought brought a smile to her lips.

A few more minutes would pass by and finally another student would enter. This one sorta stuck out for how hard he was trying not to stick out. At least that's what Naruko assumed. He wore a large jacket that went down to his ankle and up to his nose. Along with that he had dark sunglasses that obscured his eyes. Naruko thought he was sorta weird, even by the standard of all people being weird. Maybe he's actually blind, or doesn't have a human mouth. Oh! What if he's actually crawling with bugs? Or maybe he's just really buff and is shy to let people see? Naruko would be lying if she said he's not interesting. He slowly made his way up the steps, but stopped as he passed her. They made eye contact (or at least she thinks he did, she couldn't really tell thanks to the sunglasses) and he flinched. He seemed to be buzzing loudly, like an angry swarm of bees. He quickly averts eye contact and heads to the back corner furthest away from her. Oh guess he was more normal than she thought. He was just like everyone else. She turns back towards the front as a few of the other girls in class squeal. She hadn't even registered that they were here, but they had a weird blandness to them that was almost hard to figure out. But she guessed that was a good trait to have as a ninja so she left it at that. Instead she turned her attention to the reason.

A thin boy with black hair and matching eyes walked in. He was thin, not as thin as she was when she was kicked out, actually not even as thin as she is now, but still thin. He was pale too. It actually sorta reminded her of Hinata-chan. Though his wasn't almost ghostly like hers was. She looked at his hair and tilted her head. Maybe that's why Hinata-chan gave her a hair brush, so her hair wouldn't look like a ducks butt like his. She might get him a hair brush then, he might not have known it's a thing just like her. He looked confident. Like how Hinata-chan started to look after she started training. They made eye contact and the boy did something odd. He blushed. Sorta like Hinata-chan used to (and still does when she thinks Naruko isn't looking). Maybe he's not as confident as she thought. Or maybe he's sick, that would explain him being thin. She didn't get it and shrugged. She turned her attention back to Hinata-chan.

They don't get to talk for long before she notices Hinata-chan's eyes flick towards the door. This must be interesting if it got her attention so suddenly. She turns towards the door and is swiftly proven right. A girl had walked in. She had greens eyes and, more strikingly, pink hair. The girl looked a little nervous and brushed her bangs over her forehead. Naruko thought she was prettier without the hair in the way but she shrugged it off. The girl looked around hesitantly before moving up the steps. As she walked past Naruko couldn't help but say. "Your hair looks pretty." The girl blinked in surprise and smiled before she suddenly flinched and hurried away. Oh. Naruko thought it was a bit odd, the girl didn't seem to be looking at her when she flinched but, still. It was the same as everyone else. She turned back to Hinata-chan. Weird that Hinata-chan's Byakugan was fading again. Maybe she wanted to look outside the classroom some more.

After a few minutes the last student comes scrambling in. A glance towards the clock on the wall tells her he's only barely on time. He looks around for a brief second before running up and sliding into the seat next to her. She turned and looked at him, curious of the boy who sat next to her. He had red triangles on his cheeks and spiky brown hair. He also smelled like a dog. She didn't really mind, she liked dogs, and knows she had smelled worse in the past, so she wasn't about to judge. She wondered if he had a dog. She wishes she could, but dogs, like every other animal, never wanted to get close to her. Though they did follow her around like other animals. She still had no idea why animals seemed to both love and hate her at the same time. She snaps out of her thoughts as the boy turns and smiles at her. She only now realized there were no other open seats. Well who cares, he was smiling, so maybe he'll be another friend.

A minute passes filled with chattering between the students before the door slides open for one last time and a man with a scar across his nose walks in. He calmly, but sternly, calls out, "Alright quiet down, I'm going to take roll. When I call your name stand up and tell the class one thing about yourself along with your goal in becoming a ninja. If you don't have one just say so." This got Naruko thinking, why did she want to become a ninja? "Now then, first up, Aburame Shino." The secretly buff boy stands up (she doesn't know whether he is actually buff or not, but she's going to pretend he is until proven otherwise).

"I am the heir of the Aburame clan and I am becoming a ninja to be able to lead the clan in the future. Why? Because it is my duty as the heir of the clan." The boy sits down. That was a little odd but she guesses that got the point across.

"Akimichi Choji."

The plump boy stands and speaks, still munching on chips. Naruko realizes it's actually a new bag. "I like eating and want to be strong like my Tou-chan." The scarred man goes down the list naming a few kids that fell in that category of being weirdly bland. Actually now that she looks around most of the kids in the class were like that. Finally he comes to one of the kids that got her interest earlier.

"Haruno Sakura" The pink haired girl stands up.

"My mom is a ninja and I want to be one like her." Naruko note's that she didn't actually say anything about herself but she guess it counts if the sensei is okay with it.

"Hyuuga Hinata"

"I'm the heiress of the Hyuuga clan and I am becoming a ninja to be a good clan head, and to protect Naruko-chan." She says smiling at Naruko. Naruko smiled back.

"Inuzuka Kiba" The spiky haired boy stands up with a smirk on his face. He seemed confident, but not in the same way as Hinata-chan or the black haired boy.

"My family uses ninken in combat and I hope to be the strongest in my family."

The list continues once more with the weirdly bland kids before the instructor says. "Nara Shikamaru." Only to be met with silence. Waiting a few moments and seeing no one standing he says. "Is Nara Shikamaru here?" A loud smack echoes through the room, the class turns to see the tired boy rubbing the back of his head while the blonde girl hisses something at him. With a groan he stands and says.

"I'm tired and I'm becoming a ninja because it would be too troublesome not to." Naruko doesn't really get it, wouldn't it be easier not to be a ninja? The tired boy sits back down and seems to go to sleep again.

"Answer when called on next time. Now, Uchiha Sasuke."

The dark haired boy with the duck butt hair style stands and says. "I like tomatoes and want to be strong like my Onii-chan."

"Uzumaki Naruko."

"I like ramen and Hinata-chan. I don't really know why I want to be a ninja." It's true, she doesn't know why. It's not like she is the heiress to a clan, and she doesn't particularly care for the village. She could use it as a way to see the world beyond the village, but she was sure if she tried hard enough she could leave without being a ninja, so that didn't feel like the reason. The Hokage had tried to convince her that she should try and be like him. She figured that won't work since everyone hates her. At the end of the day she guesses she became a ninja because Hinata-chan is going to and she wants to protect her. Yeah that's the answer she guesses. Hinata-chan is going to be a ninja, and she doesn't want to be left behind.

The instructor goes down the rest of the list finishing with the blonde girl, she's the only one who had yet to speak. "Yamanaka Ino."

"I love fashion and I want to learn my clans techniques. And watch out for these two." She says gesturing to Shikamaru and Choji, fondness present in her tone.

"Alright, you all come from different walks of life with different experiences and perspectives. I hope you can keep this in mind in the future when you interact with your fellow students and ninja. From this moment forward you start your road to becoming a ninja. Congratulations." He paused and smiled at the students. "Now then, let's go over your schedule for the next year." He says as he looks around the class, only to be interrupted by Kiba.

"Hey sensei you never told us your name."

"Right my apologies, I'm Umino Iruka and I will be your sensei for the next six years. Now as for our schedule. In the morning we will be having light exercise to get you all used to working out, some times it will be drills and other times we'll be playing games. Following that we'll have four hours of civilian subjects. Those being Math, English, Science, and History. Then you will be given an hour long break for lunch and recess. After that we will be having three hours of ninja theory. It will be split into three subjects. Chakra Theory, Ninjutsu Theory, and Basic Stealth. Now any questions?"

Sasuke speaks up this time. "Why are we spending time on civilian subjects when we're going to be ninja?"

"Because sometimes ninja are injured in the field and must live civilian lives as a result, and some of you might decide you don't want to be ninja, and this way you won't be to far behind your peers who have begun civilian school. Not only that while the civilian subjects are certainly more important to a civilian than a ninja it still has the potential to help on future missions. And if that isn't enough, we want our ninja's to have some basic knowledge on how the world works and how to write up reports." That answer was enough to satisfy the Uchiha.

* * *

Hinata was having a good first day of school. She got to spend time with her best friend. She was on the road to becoming more powerful to protect her best friend. And she got to start learning something outside of the gentle fist. She loved her clan techniques but she had a thirst for more knowledge that clan techniques alone couldn't quench. Of course as much good as her first day had brought there were some bad parts.

Most notably the Inuzuka boy, the Uchiha, and that pink haired girl. The pink haired girl was the least annoying. It just made her weirdly upset when she heard Naruko-chan call her hair pretty so she may or may not have activated her Byakugan to scare the girl away. Of course she felt bad after seeing how it brought her friends mood down. She didn't know why she did it.

In a similar vein she found herself disliking the Uchiha from the moment he blushed at her friend. She still didn't know why, but just like the compliment it bothered her. Finally there was the Inuzuka boy. He didn't do anything wrong, in fact he was friendly and didn't even talk to them outside of a brief statement about girls being gross, but him sitting next to Naruko-chan had bothered her.

She had resolved herself to take the middle seat next time so Naruko-chan won't have to sit next to anyone else. She would make sure her friend is always safe, even if it's just other kids.

* * *

The year had come and gone. The excitement of school had quickly faded into routine and just a chance to see her friend everyday. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't what she had hoped it would be going in. That being said, it was worth her time. She knew that much.

She had found out why Shino seemed to dislike her. The answer was actually surprising. He didn't actually hate her or dislike her. According to him he was completely neutral to her, but he and the insects that apparently live inside him, were afraid of her. She guessed that's why animals seemed to run away from her if she got too close. But she still didn't understand the following her. It's like they only realized they were afraid at a certain distance and at all other distances were drawn to her. Shino couldn't answer that question, but he did say that his insects did feel the draw, whatever it was.

Hinata-chan said it was because she was powerful, but Naruko didn't get it. Her friend was way stronger than she was. Not to mention she was small, easily the smallest in her class. So she didn't really see how she was powerful, but she figured it was related to her apparent saving of Hinata-chan.

Despite now being civil with Shino they still weren't really friends. But she didn't blame him, he couldn't calm down whenever he was near her and she wasn't going to make him deal with that just to try and be his friend. He was at least kind regardless of the fear he felt and she liked him for that.

The pink haired girl, Sakura, had turned out to be a dud. The girl at first had sort of gotten along with her when others weren't around but she grew distant when anyone else was there. She got especially distant whenever Hinata-chan was around. And she didn't want to be friends with someone who couldn't get along with Hinata-chan. As the year went on she sort of just started ignoring Naruko so she left it at that.

She got along decently well with Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji. But they only occasionally talked in class and never considered playing together outside of class, even during recess. So they were only sorta friends. They at least didn't seem to hate her like the weirdly bland kids (which the hate seemed to somehow make them blander). Kiba was in a similar boat at first, but they actually got to the point where she was invited over to play. She got to the clan compound and the abundance of dogs quickly made that go poorly. So she ended up being about as close to Kiba as she was to the trio.

Lastly there was Sasuke. Sasuke actually still tried to be friends with her, but Hinata-chan seemed to really not like him. He would also do that weird blushing everytime she was around which only made Hinata-chan madder. Naruko didn't get it. Sasuke had never been mean to either of them but Hinata-chan just really didn't like him. She had heard the Uchiha clan and Hyuuga clan were rivals but this seemed to be a little weird. Still she prioritized Hinata-chan. Though she did hope the two could start getting along cause it'd be fun to have another friend.

Other than that classes had gone as Iruka-sensei said and they progressed through the year steadily. A few of the bland kids dropped out to become civilians. Naruko couldn't remember their names or faces but figured it didn't really matter. She had considered dropping out, she had been since the first day. Even now a year later she hadn't figured out precisely why she wanted to be a ninja. But she figured it would come to her before graduation. She hoped it would.

Much to her delight she had grown a bit in the last year, gaining a full two inches of height. She now stood at a proud 3'4". Well she was proud of it but she was still the shortest kid in class. Hinata-chan had grown more than her, before she was only an inch taller, but now she stood at 3'7". Naruko is sure she'll catch up. She's gotta be bigger than Hinata-chan to protect her. Bodyguards are always super beefy and tall.

* * *

She shot up at the sound of screaming. Her heart was beating erratically and she looked at the eerie glow of her alarm clock. It was only 11pm. She had gone to bed early. She had been tired from the new schedule that was introduced at the start of her second year. Her heart was still beating erratically. She needed a drink of water. Her voice was hoarse from her own screaming. She looked out her window as she passed. She couldn't help but stop and observe. The moon hung over head. The village was quiet, and she could feel it. The normal hatred she felt when she woke up was quelled by the sleep of the citizens. And perhaps because of that she could feel something different. In another part of Konoha, an area she had never been before, was an intense sorrow and rage. It wasn't directed at her, which came as a surprise, but instead directed at someone else. She had no idea who, but the hatred felt as intense as the villages hatred for her. She could also feel something else, a sort of worry coming from the Hokage tower.

Her heart beat slowly calmed down and she stopped observing the city. That was the first time feeling emotions had woken her up since Hinata-chan had been kidnapped. And if it wasn't for the fact that when she focused she could still feel her friend, she would be scrambling to find her. She went and got that water. She took a deep breath, drank the water, and went back to bed.

* * *

She didn't immediately associate the events that followed with that night, but in the coming weeks she would realize what transpired. After that night Sasuke suddenly got way more popular (after a brief stint of not being in class). He also stopped blushing around her, or making any expression other than anger. She could feel his hate every morning just like the rest of the village, though his was never directed at her. So she knew whatever happened had effected him, she just wasn't sure why.

She finally got an answer when she asked Hinata-chan. "His whole family was killed in one night."

"Oh."

"Yeah. . ." She had known her friend didn't like him but she could see the sadness in her eyes. She had lost her uncle and could relate on some level. Naruko didn't fully understand but understood it upset people with families to lose said family. She just didn't understand why. Of course she wasn't about to say that, Hinata-chan had told her it's inconsiderate.

She wanted to feel bad for him, but the results were more annoying for her. The girls that hung around him went from mostly ignoring her and acting like she's not there, to being outright mean to her. Something about her trying to "Steal Sasuke-kun away." Yeah Naruko thought it was weird. Again she asked Hinata-chan and was told that there are apparently rumors that Sasuke likes girls with long hair. And much to her surprise, he had a crush on her during the first year so some students drew the conclusion that she was trying to get his attention. Naruko thought it was ridiculous, she grew her hair out because she likes it like that, and because Hinata-chan seems to like it like that. Plus why would she like boys, all the boys in her class are weird. She asked Hinata-chan if she thinks she should cut it. Well she tried but her friend didn't even let her finish asking before she said no. And that was that.

Despite all this Naruko didn't really have any problems with Sasuke himself. His friends(?) were annoying but he wasn't. And it's not like it's his fault that the girls (and some boys by the looks of things) in class seem weirdly attracted to him for having a dead family. That might be the weirdest thought she's had in a while. Maybe they just didn't like his family, sorta like how they don't like her. She still thought it was a little weird (and kinda mean) but maybe that's normal and she's the weird one.

Maybe it was more normal than she thought cause it wasn't just the bland girls who joined in. Ino and Sakura both started to behave like them. They also stopped being friends. Actually as a matter of fact they were only briefly friends before becoming enemies. The two had seemed as close as she and Hinata-chan are, so she kinda thought it was sad. She had asked Hinata-chan if the same would happen to them. Crushing on the same boy (but boys are gross). Hinata-chan had assured her that wouldn't happen. Naruko didn't know how the other girl was so certain but she wasn't going to push it. She certainly doesn't want to become enemies with Hinata-chan over a boy (again boys are gross anyways). That whole ordeal was the most notable part of the second year, with one exception she'll get to soon.

The new year brought with it the aforementioned new curriculum. The only real change being that they're now practicing Taijutsu instead of only doing light exercise in the mornings. There was other change which actually was going to start today. They were finally going to unlock their chakra. She was excited, it was supposedly the most interesting part of the second year and she was looking forward to it. She could finally start catching up to Hinata-chan (who already had unlocked her chakra before they even entered the academy). The class is currently gathered outside. Iruka-sensei was explaining chakra again, he's done that a lot in the past year and a half. She's pretty sure that's all the chakra theory class is, just different ways of explaining what chakra is.

Finally he gets to something new. "Now, I'm going to teach you how to find and harness your chakra." Naruko isn't the only who perked up upon hearing that. The entire class is suddenly paying attention, well almost the entire class, a few of the clan heirs aren't. Those being Shikamaru, who is too busy sleeping, Hinata-chan who already knows how to use her chakra, and Sasuke who Naruko guesses is in the same boat as Hinata-chan.

"First I want everyone to sit down in the lotus position. Then close your eyes." Naruko couldn't help but note that it was a little similar to the instructions the voice gave her. Though not the quite the same. Still it made Naruko ponder if Iruka-sensei was the voice. Wait no, the voice felt more female and as far as she could tell Iruka-sensei was a boy. But maybe the voice wasn't really a female, Naruko couldn't remember the details of that night to well, it was mostly a haze of worry. "Now I want you to clear your mind. Once you've done so look inside yourself for a ball, it might be big or small but just look for a ball." Okay well it's not exactly the same, the voice had just wanted her to stay still. And to calm her breathing.

An odd sensation washed over her. It sort of felt like she opened her eyes, but instead of seeing the academy training ground that she knew; she instead saw an endless black void. If she had to compare it to anything she would say it's like how she felt peoples emotions without actually feeling them with any of her five senses. She didn't have to look around the void to find what Iruka-sensei described. A large blue ball sat before her. And when she said large, she meant it. In fact it was as large as the Hokage tower if she had to guess. So this was her chakra? She placed a hand against it. It was warm, comfortable, and sort of felt like a part of her she never knew was there. She liked it. But then she noticed something odd. Part of it was a sort of green, and stemming from that green was a yellow strand (which she assumed was also made of chakra). She followed it and found something else. She hadn't noticed it when she was facing her chakra but there was another ball. It was made of three colors. Yellow, which was connected to her own chakra. White, which seemed to be flickering defiantly. And finally red, which seemed to be the majority color, it made her uncomfortable. She watched in curiosity as the three colors pushed against each other. Yellow seemed to push with white against the red, but there was so much of the latter that they were still losing this weird tug of war. And then suddenly, the ball seemed to turn, with the entire red side facing her. Black rings (with these weird commas) suddenly appeared on it and she felt her heart rate spike. Then a dot appeared in the middle of the rings and she realized. It looked sorta like an eye. And it was staring at her. She barely had time to comprehend what was happening before she felt her scream tear from her lungs as she stumbled back. Whatever that thing was, it scared her. She bumped against her own chakra and in a moment of desperation pushed herself in.

Her eyes snapped open and she found a worried Iruka-sensei and Hinata-chan leaning over her. Her friend was holding her tight.

She let out a gasp as she struggled to ask, "Hinata-chan? Wh-What was that?! I-It looked. . . It looked right at me. I-I-"

* * *

Hinata tightened her grip on Naruko-chan. The smaller girl was shaking and it seemed to be one of the rare times she saw tears pouring down her face. She had only seen her this terrified once and even then it was after the worst of it. Back during her seventh birthday she had been lured out of her apartment somehow, and then hunted down for sport. At least she thinks it's sport, it was too much even for the villages usual spite. She didn't get to see her friends injuries, and none of the adults were willing to tell her. In fact it was one of the few secrets that Naruko-chan kept from her. She wanted to know, even now, but she wasn't willing to make the other girl relive that night just for the sake of knowing. So she did all she could, she made sure Naruko-chan never went home alone and that she stayed with her even more than she already did. It was the best she could do. She worried it wasn't enough but Naruko-chan never asked for more. She slowly traced a circle on her friends back and whispered,"It will be okay Naru-chan." She said it over and over again, slowly calming the smaller girl. Her eyes flicked to nearby movement.

The rest of the class was staring at them, staring at her friend. Hinata hated their stares, to her it was always the worst part of the villages treatment of Naruko-chan. It reminded her of the elders of her clan. Those eyes assigned a value to a person without ever knowing who they are and that value was always worthless. She hated it. She snapped out of her thoughts as she returned her attention to the other kids, they were still staring. She knew they hated Naruko-chan. And she in turn disliked them for it. She silently activated her Byakugan as she stared at them. Her eyes flicked to Iruka-sensei who seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in.

"Alright, she's just a little overloaded from using too much chakra. Now I believe the rest of you still haven't accessed it yet. And Shikamaru wake up!" The class goes back to meditating while the Nara groans.

"Iruka-sensei, since this is the last class today can we leave early, Ko-san is already waiting for us." Iruka-sensei didn't seem too fond of the idea but he took one look at the still shaking redhead and nodded.

"I wouldn't normally allow it but you've both completed the work. Just don't expect this to be a regular occurrence."

"Thank you sensei," Naruko-chan shakily stands on her feet, with Hinata's help. "Now come on Naru-chan let's get you home." Hinata then whispers in her ear. "And, if you want, we can talk about it." Naruko-chan nods and they start to walk towards Ko. She saw his surprise, which then morphed into a stern look. She knew he was going to scold them, but as soon as he saw what state Naruko-chan's in he stopped and silently started to lead them back to Naruko-chan's house (they always walker her home after her seventh birthday).

"Do you want to talk about it?" Several moments pass in silence, "it's okay, I won't-" Naruko interrupts her.

"N-No if I can talk to anyone it's you." Hinata realizes it's pretty bad, Naruko-chan never stutters like that. Not unless her mouth is in too much pain to talk properly (which was something Hinata tried to prevent from happening). "I found my chakra." Hinata knows there's more so she waits for Naruko to continue. "But then I found another chakra source. A-And it turned into some weird eye thing. I-It looked right at me. I-I was so scared. I-It was like every bad emotion I've ever felt directed at me, but worse." Naruko-chan was crying in fear at the memory. Hinata hugs her in response, rubbing her back.

How could Naruko-chan have two chakra sources? Well that at least explains the power Naruko-chan used when the cloud nin attacked her. Seeing the red head calm down a bit she says. "Naruko-chan wha-" Naruko interrupts again.

"Naru-chan." Hinata nods knowing what she meant. If it helped her red headed friend then she had no problem with it.

"Naru-chan what did the eye look like?"

"I-It was red, with several rings around the pupil, I didn't count how many, and-"

"It had tomoe in the rings, they look like commas." Naruko nods dumbly and asks.

"How did you know?"

"Naru-chan. . . That's. . . What your eyes looked like on the night you saved me. When you blacked out."

* * *

"Oh. . . Hinata-chan. . . Am I a demon? What if the villagers are right? Maybe that was just the demon part of me, the part I've never known of until now?"

"I don't think you're a demon. I think you are Uzumaki Naruko, my best friend and the person who risked herself to save me from being kidnapped. But even if you are a demon, you're still my best friend, no matter what." Naruko nods accepting the answer. She's still unsure, but at the very least she knows Hinata-chan will still be her friend, even if she is a demon.

"Thanks, Hinata-chan. . . Um. . . Can we get ramen tonight?"

"Of course."

And so the two (along with Ko) went to Ichiraku Ramen for dinner that night, it's Naruko's comfort food, and her favorite food. Hinata-chan usually tells her not to have ramen at every meal, though she can't really stop her from keeping it at home. It helps that people can't sell her rotten ramen, ramen just never lasts that long in the stores and has incredibly long expiration dates. Anyways because she usually has dinner with Hinata-chan she's forced to eat those nasty vegetables, though at least she's not super thin because of it. Between Hinata-chan's comforting and the ramen she'd calmed down a lot in the past few hours and was back to her usual self. The two seven year old girls finished their meal and Naruko was taken back to her apartment. " Thanks for today, Hina-chan." She says smiling brightly at the taller girl. The white eyed girl blushes, Naruko hadn't shortened her name like that before. It made her more comfortable when Hinata-chan shortened her name, so she figured she could do the same. She liked the sound of it.

* * *

The third and fourth year marked a change in curriculum but no new trauma. Which truth be told, Naruko and Hina-chan were both thankful for. In the third year Science was rolled into Math, called Advanced Math (which was math and science but not called as such, Naruko thought it was a weird distinction), making one class and giving Taijutsu it's own full class, once again going back to just exercising in the morning class. That was really the only thing of note to come in the third year. The fourth year saw English be removed and agility training taking it's place. That being said their history class did get a higher level of expectation in the students writing and reading abilities, so their English ability did still improve just at a bit of a slower rate than before. Beyond the time being removed from civilian subjects they also started intermediate stealth (which incorporated aspects of setting traps and looking for signs of traps). The exercise period was divided into two separate periods, one for strength training and the other for the aforementioned agility training. Chakra theory had also been vamped up into teaching them their first proper chakra control exercises and getting used to tapping into their chakra at any time. Lastly Ninjutsu theory finally taught them their first ninjutsu, that being the Kawarimi. All in all it was starting to feel like they were preparing to be ninja's rather than just sort of learning about how ninjas work. Naruko still hadn't really decided why she wanted to be a ninja, but she had grown more sure that she did indeed want to follow this path.

Of course in the past few years she's grown, just like her peers. She now stood at a proud four feet tall exactly. She was still shortest kid in class, but the growth made her happy, as it turned out she started to grow more once she was getting a steadier supply of food (she had Hina-chan and the Hyuuga's to thank for that). Her hair had also grown, much to the fury of Sasuke's fans (she had figured out they weren't his friends), now reaching down to her lower thighs. It was actually getting a bit unwieldy but she liked it too much to cut it plus Hina-chan insists she keeps it long (which Naruko found funny given her friend keeps her hair short). Speaking of Sasuke he still seemed to be grieving over the loss of his family. She sort of wished he would stop because his fans were getting more annoying towards her. They still didn't seem to understand she wasn't interested in him.

She had found out that a downside of growing was that her clothes didn't fit as nicely. Her old dress used to fit comfortably but it felt tight now. She felt like her movement was too constricted by it. Fortunately Hina-chan came to the rescue as always and gave her a new dress for her tenth birthday. It had the same color scheme but was designed with mesh armor in mind. Mesh armor that she now wore under the dress to have an extra level of protection that the cloth wouldn't deliver. Most notably she used the mesh as sleeves that extend beyond the dress.

Speaking of Hina-chan, the white eyed girl had also grown, she now stood at 4'5". Naruko couldn't help but pout at that, she wanted to be tall enough to protect Hina-chan. Though she's come to the realization height is not that big a deal. She had realized that during Taijutsu practice. She may be the shortest kid in class but she's the fifth best at Taijutsu. Hina-chan and Sasuke tend to compete for first. Kiba has third place locked down and Choji has fourth. Of course that's not to say Naruko can't win against those four, she just loses against them more than she wins. Though she always loses when Hina-chan goes all out on her. They had both trained hard these past two years but, Naruko didn't have clan techniques to help her and admittedly she didn't practice much outside of class like Hina-chan does.

Of course all this growth wasn't without it's pain. For some reason once Naruko started wearing her new dress Kiba started acting weird around her. At first it was just averting his eyes and trying not to pay attention to her when she talks, but then it turned into him being mean. Seemingly out of nowhere he started making fun of her. Which not liking her is pretty normal but she found the nicknames Dobe or Naruko-baka to be weird. She wasn't top of the class in studies but she was always slightly above average. And as she mentioned earlier she was fifth best in the class at Taijutsu. So she really didn't get it. The only thing she was bad at was math and chakra control. And sure her vocabulary was a little limited but it wasn't much worse than his. Certainly she wasn't bad enough in any subjects to warrant mocking her smarts. So she figures it must be chakra control which she may have been a little easy on herself when she said she was bad. Cause yeah, she's _bad. _So what if the leaf would be violently thrown from her forehead and turn to dust on impact. Or if she accidentally hit one of the bland kids with it one time and he had to go to the nurse. It was an accident. She asked Hina-chan if she had any idea and her friend just said he's being stupid and dealing with his feelings poorly. Naruko didn't get it, but she figured Hina-chan would tell her if it was actually a problem.

Of course where Kiba got mean Iruka-sensei suddenly got nice. Well that's not true. Iruka-sensei had been nice to her ever since that incident in their second year. He had been cold and she could feel the hostility before, but after that incident she could tell he was sorry and was trying to be nicer to make up for whatever he thought he did wrong. He had actually even gone so far as to apologize to her at one point. She didn't understand and simply told him he was acting like a normal person when he was cold to her. That seemed to upset him. She apologized but he told her he wasn't mad at her. Apparently he was mad at himself and the village. She didn't get it. This is how things are, why be mad over it? Of course Hina-chan was the same so maybe she should be mad. But honestly, she just sorta feels numb to it.

Anyways, today marked the start of the second semester and Iruka-sensei had an announcement to make. "From now on you won't have a recess." He was met with many boos. Naruko didn't really care, but she guessed she'd miss the free time. "Instead that time will be spent on a self study in a field of your choice. You have one week to decide. If you don't make a decision by next Monday I'll be assigning a subject for you." A few kids still grumbled at losing recess, but most looked excited for it. It seems like most of the clan heirs already had a good idea of what they wanted to do. Sasuke was the first to make a decision, choosing to focus on Ninjutsu during his self study. Unsurprisingly most of the undecided bland kids decided to just follow his decision. To Naruko's surprise Hina-chan went and decided to study the use of herbs. Apparently she was going to use them to make healing salves and poisons. Naruko was tempted to do the same, her garden would be perfect for it, and she would get to spend time with Hina-chan. But something inside of her said she needs to seek her own path.

It would take a week of looking into the different fields of being a ninja before she finally settled on Genjutsu. She felt a draw to it, and in a way it sort of made her think of that white chakra that's inside her. She had also considered Fuinjutsu, but it requires more time than the 30 minute class would allow for, and she doesn't have the resources for it. She decided to file it away for something to look into when she graduates. For now she was content with just studying Genjutsu. Though she came to realize quickly it wouldn't help her against Hina-chan who can use her Byakugan to ignore Genjutsu. She would also quickly realize that, despite the fact that she feels a draw towards Genjutsu, she has little to no talent for the art. But she wasn't going to give up, according to Hina-chan she used to be terrible at the Jyuken so she knew if she dedicated enough time she would improve. She had asked Iruka-sensei for advice and he told her to try and spend her self study on chakra control for now, as it's required to have any skill in Genjutsu. So she spent more time trying and failing at the leaf sticking exercise.

But it wasn't without progress and by the end of the year she had managed to get the leaf to stick to her forehead for the full duration of her self study. She still didn't have the ability to perform the Genjutsu, but she could tell what her problem was now and that progress reassured her. She decided to ask Iruka-sensei for the next exercise on the last day before their spring break and he told her to try and walk up a tree with her chakra. She spent her spring break falling down from trees with Hina-chan (who needed the next step for the Jyuken). She kept at it and by the end of their fourth year she could stick to the tree for about three minutes.

Their summer came and went and the fifth year of the academy started up. It, like the years before it, brought new changes. The first and less surprising of the two main changes was that they started to learn to use kunai and shuriken. More importantly was that they had a new assistant teacher helping the class. Apparently classes always get an assistant teacher starting in the fifth year who joins them for the last two years. The teachers name was Touji Mizuki. He sort of gave Naruko bad vibes, she could feel his hate even when she wasn't just waking up and it was more intense than a lot of the villagers. Of course Hina-chan is the only person who knows about her ability to sense emotions in the morning so she couldn't really bring this problem to Iruka-sensei. She just hoped he wouldn't try anything.

Other than that a few more changes were made to the curriculum with strength and agility training each losing twenty minutes to the new kunai and shuriken training. A few kids expressed their concern that they would grow weak if they don't train as much in class to which Iruka-sensei responded with an extra lesson.

"When you become a genin, you will be expected to train on your own sometimes, your genin sensei will only be required to teach you for four hours a day. If you truly wish to excel as a ninja you'll train on your own time as well." Naruko took it to heart and started to run laps around her block on weekends. And trying to run up and down the trees rather than just walking. She couldn't afford any weights so she started doing push-ups and sit-ups for as long as she could. She would also do squats but she's pretty sure she'd get more out of that if she had weights. She also just started to spend more time practicing her chakra control in general. Hina-chan was strong because she trained so much outside of class and Naruko was never gonna catch up if she didn't do the same.

The extra training actually pulled off by the middle of the semester where for the first time she overtook Choji in the Taijutsu ranking and reached fourth place. Of course she still lost most of the time against the three ahead of her, but she was making progress and that was enough for her.

After one particular loss Mizuki decided to show more of his true colors. He pulled her aside for special training and taught her a supposedly correct version of her incorrect academy stance. She lost worse than usual against Hina-chan after that. Her friend asked what was going on and she explained. It was quickly revealed that Mizuki lied to her and they made a plan for Hina-chan to spy and check for sure (the Byakugan was a wonderful thing). Indeed it was found that he had been attempting to sabotage her Taijutsu by deliberately teaching her harmful stances. Of course this brought another problem to her attention. She had been struggling on tests this year in class, only barely scraping by, and they compared their answer sheets. Answers had been changed to look like she changed her mind from correct answers. They suspected Mizuki was doing it, but they had no proof. More annoyingly; however, was that Mizuki started to call her out on her bad grades in class and the rest of the class started to join Kiba in his name calling. Naruko of course started to ignore Mizuki's instructions which only made the problem worse, but she can just ignore him and those kids. Truthfully it seems like the issue bothers Hina-chan more than it bothers her. She thinks it's a little ridiculous that they think she's dumb when she always answers Iruka-sensei's questions right. But she guesses they have no reason to think anything is wrong with Mizuki's behavior. Iruka-sensei certainly hasn't noticed.

The whole thing had made it more clear who she could trust. There was of course Hina-chan, but she had also figured out that Choji, Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Shino weren't getting swept into it. Though if she had to guess Choji doesn't care because Shikamaru doesn't. Sasuke is too fixated on his hatred to care about her, and Shino is neutral towards everyone. Actually even now he still seems a little scared of her.

Drama aside they did continue to _actually_ try and be ninja's. They started learning the Henge no Jutsu, a Jutsu that lets the user transform into anyone else. She had at first thought it was akin to a Genjutsu but it actually changes the physical shape of the user. Still, it was a new Jutsu and one that seemed incredibly useful, so she wasn't about to complain about it not being a Genjutsu (which she wasn't really doing to begin with).

Thanks to Hina-chan she had quickly learned that the Henge no Jutsu might just be the best Jutsu yet or maybe ever. Her friend had wisely pointed out that she should use it while buying food. The implication was enough for Naruko to focus a lot of energy into mastering the Jutsu. After that it didn't take long for her to start buying fresh food for half the price of rotten food, or for ramen to not cost most her budget. She still kept a supply of ramen, but for once she was able to buy things like fruit and vegetables (yuck) and milk. It was a sort of novel feeling. Being able to buy her own food with no strings attached had felt pretty good. Hina-chan had always made sure she had a supply of food (or maybe it was Hiashi who actually did it) but now she wasn't reliant on the Hyuuga's for food outside of ramen. It felt good. She started to gain weight after that. Her training was enough to ensure she didn't get out of shape, but she got a lot less thin then she used to be. Of course Hina-chan had made sure she never starved again, but still she didn't have every meal with her. All in all, she felt good. And being able to save money was a plus. It took a few months of saving but she did finally manage to buy a set of training weights. Things were looking up.

Hina-chan had made good progress with her herbs. Though it was a little concerning seeing her friend get sick from testing weaker versions of her own poisons, but apparently getting that immunity was worth it. Naruko didn't fully understand but if Hina-chan is to be believed she's recently made a poison that can paralyze three adults, so it seems pretty potent. The two girls had made use of the healing salves quite a lot after sparring, so Naruko had no doubt that it worked well.

* * *

"Hey, Hokage-sama."

"Hello, Naruko-chan. What can I do for you today?"

"I'm gonna be a ninja soon, well assuming I graduate."

"Which I have no doubt you will."

"Well I was wondering." He merely raised an eyebrow and waited for her to continue. "Will there be consequences for people attacking me once I become a ninja?"

"Yes, attacking a ninja is capital punishment."

"So will I be allowed to retaliate as such?"

"Afraid not, we do have a justice system. Once you become a ninja just apprehend the attacking citizen and bring he or she to T&I. While it is a capital crime to attack a ninja, the ninja themselves are rarely allowed to issue their own justice. Does that make sense?"

"Not really. Why can't the ninja just punish them on the spot?"

"To prevent them from abusing their power. It used to be as you described, and I found that too often were ninja baiting civilians into attacking them just so they have an excuse to kill our own people." As it turned out ninja weren't the most mentally stable folks and giving them absolute power tended to make them run wild. . .

"I see, that makes sense. Thank you."

"Of course, now is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No I have no other questions."

"I see, well then you're dismissed."

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

"Anytime Naruko-san."

Of course he didn't bring up the fact that in normal circumstances a civilian would never dare to attack a ninja, and if the ninja does attack back they typically get a slap on the wrist. But letting her know would likely only raise more problems. As he sees it letting her know that she doesn't have to take it anymore will further incentivize her to become a ninja. Of course once she's a ninja she is a soldier and is beholden to Konoha. It's taken a long time but the plan does seem to be finally paying dividends. Still he couldn't help but shudder to think of what Jiraiya or Tsunade will do when they finally find out. He knows they will, it's sort of inevitable. He just had to hope that by the time Jiraiya finds out he'll have found a successor who can deal with the brunt of his wrath. But it's not like he left her completely helpless. He assigned Kakashi to watch out for her once a week (despite the man petitioning for more). He had to reassure himself because he isn't sure if his conscious could take it if he didn't. He had come to the shaky conclusion in the past few years that she likely isn't actually the demon. If her seventh birthday was anything to go by. Afterall if she was, the village would like be in ruins after that disaster. And while he still believes letting the village use her in dealing with their grief, and making her a goal to work towards for Kurenai has been a benefit, he does think that it's a little sad that the child had to deal with that for the greater good.

On the topic of Kurenai the woman had actually gone and done it. She just recently met all the requirements to be considered an Elite Jonin. Of course by now she's realized it's a little too late to adopt Naruko when the girl is about to graduate from the academy, only having a few short months left. So she had asked him to change the deal. He saw no reason to argue. All she wanted was for Naruko to be on her team. He agreed. Kurenai clearly wasn't pleased with not being able to become an elite jonin on time, but she wanted the girl as a student and he saw no reason to reject that. He told her, if she passes the test then she'll be put on her team. It was actually sort of funny because not even a few days later Kakashi seemed to get the same idea and asked for Naruko to be on his team. Of course he told him that Kurenai had beat him to it. The man seemed disappointed but accepted that answer.

Kakashi had been the first of his generation to attain the rank of Elite Jonin, followed by Maito Gai and then Kurenai. His son was close, but unfortunately that had been the only aspect of his plan to backfire. Kurenai despite dating his son hadn't slowed her growth for him. His son on the other hand had started to grow lax in his training as a result of his focus on the woman. Well he'd figure out a solution to that soon enough. Though truth be told he didn't care too much, his son was his own man now and it wasn't really his duty to do his job for him.

* * *

Graduation was fast approaching and it seemed like there was an energy in the air of the academy. The students who had made it this far were determined to become ninja and it was only right that they were worried and excited. Naruko was no exception. She loved the Academy, these past six years had been some of the best of her life (to be fair she could also remember them more clearly then most of the previous years), but she was ready to take the next step. She had worked hard, harder than she ever thought she could. And her work had payed off. She had managed to learn and cast a Genjutsu. She had tirelessly practiced her chakra control and it was finally at the point where she could cast one (it only took mastering the tree climbing exercise and starting water walking). Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu had quickly become her favorite tool in her arsenal. Of course that wasn't all she had learned, she had dedicated time to learning to detect and dispel Genjutsu. She may not have the highest aptitude for it but she was certain she was better than the rest of her classmates, she ignored the fact that she was one of two students to practice it and the other was one of those bland kids (who somehow managed to stay bland even as they near graduation).

They had learned and were mastering their last Ninjutsu from the Academy. The Jutsu in question was the Bunshin no Jutsu. Naruko had found it difficult, only barely being able to produce one barely acceptable clone. It was a problem since three were required to graduate, but she hoped she would master it in the coming months before graduation. According to Iruka-sensei her chakra control needed to be better since she had such large reserves and was overloading the Jutsu. It's actually the reason she was taught the water walking exercise. If Naruko had to guess she would be able to do it if she mastered the water walking exercise. Of course there was no close source of water so she could only practice outside of class. If she could she would dedicate her self study to the new exercise.

She had unfortunately sunk down to the bottom of the class. She was really only saved by her ability in the physical classes. Her theoretical classes were still being sabotaged. But she did make up for it, now ranking third overall in Taijutsu and being one of the only student to consistently score perfect marks on kunai and shuriken practice. It had felt pretty good the day she surpassed Kiba in Taijutsu, seeing the look on his face when she delivered a painful roundhouse kick was a highlight of the year. Kicking Kiba's ass aside she had managed to shakily stay afloat just barely scraping together a passing grade. She wasn't one of the students that would have to repeat (assuming nothing changes in the next three months) but she would pass at the bottom of her class.

Naruko found her thoughts flicking back to Kiba as Hina-chan ruthlessly struck him in the shoulder with her Jyuken. She had found out why he was acting the way he did. Apparently he had been crushing on her for a few years now, ever since the bullying started. Apparently he thought to hide it by being mean to her. She had only even found out when he finally got the courage to confess. She had swiftly and efficiently shut him down. She didn't feel anything physical or emotional for him and he had been rude for years, so she wasn't about to say yes. He took the rejection poorly and doubled down on his bullying. She could tell he was hurting and it sort of made her feel bad, but being mean to her wasn't going to make her like him, let alone want to be friends with him.

Which brings her to today, Hina-chan was currently sparring with him for today's Taijutsu practice and she was being particularly ruthless. She was always harsher on people when they made fun of Naruko, and Kiba was no exception, if anything she regularly made an example of him. Naruko almost felt like Hina-chan was being too harsh sometimes. The class had realized that once Hina-chan stopped vocalizing that she didn't like how they treat her and instead would show her displeasure in the ring, well most of them quit out of fear. The only exceptions were Sakura, who was far too stubborn to stop, and Kiba who might not know the meaning of the word fear, or common sense. The others weren't so bold and would usually wait until after Taijutsu practice or the weekend in hopes Hina-chan would forget. She never did. Naruko thought it was a bit much, but it also secretly made her happy, so she never complained.

Hina-chan swiftly finished the match and the rest of the day went by relatively uneventfully. Until classes ended and Hina-chan said they need to to talk. Naruko was confused but agreed, they always talked so she didn't understand why today was special. Either way Hina-chan led her to the playground where they first met all those years ago. She ordered Ko to give them some privacy. Naruko found that to be a surprise, she almost never ordered Ko away. Naruko looked at her friend, she was still taller than the redhead, and Naruko would wager that will likely always be the case. Hina-chan was staring at her with a look of determination and paradoxically hesitation.

"So. . . What did you wanna talk about, Hina-chan?" She looked towards the swing and wanted to sit, but Hina-chan made no move so she stayed put.

Her white eyed friend looked at her and said, "Naruko." This caught Naruko off guard. Hina-chan never called her by name unless she was scolding her (for not eating her vegetables for example) and certainly never in that tone. If she said her name it was angrily. In fact Naruko can't recall a time where her friend didn't use an honorific with her name. It had been Naruko-san, then chan, and then Naru-chan. So yeah she was taken aback by the way Hina-chan said her name. Whatever she has to say must be important. "I like girls."

Well now Naruko was confused. What's so important about that? Naruko liked girls, her best friend is a girl. She voiced her confusion, "Okay, so do I, what's your point?"

"No Naruko, I like girls like Sakura and Ino like boys. Like Kiba likes girls."

"Oh."

"Do you think I'm weird? Or do you think we shouldn't be friends anymore?" Was that why she was worried? Because Naruko might thinks she's weird or suddenly hate her? The idea was ridiculous, She loved Hina-chan more than anyone, she could never hate her.

"Hinata." Her friend blinked, it seems she was just as surprised by the use of her name with no honorifics as Naruko was. "I've always thought you were weird. Your weirdness has never interfered with our friendship before, and it's not going to change now. I don't know if liking girls is weird or not, but even if it is I still want to be your friend." Naruko had always thought Hina-chan was a little weird, ever since she first saw her pretty eyes. It had only been reaffirmed as the years went on.

"What if I don't want to _just_ be friends anymore?"

"You don't want to be friends anymore?" She felt a weird pain in her chest upon hearing those words.

"It's just a hypothetical, where I wanted to be your girlfriend." Naruko had a feeling this isn't as hypothetical as Hina-chan is saying it is, but she would see where her friend is taking this.

"Would things change between us?"

"I mean, we would start acting like a couple I guess. I've never really done this before. We're both new and would have to see where it takes us."

"And if I don't feel the same, would thing change between us then?"

"No. Even if, hypothetically speaking, you didn't love me like I love you we would still be friends."

"Good, cause I would never want to risk losing you, I don't think I could bare the loneliness anymore."

"Okay, then, no hypothetical this time. Naruko, I'm in love with you and I want to know, do you feel the same?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" Hina-chan didn't seem to understand how she could possibly not know.

"I've never thought about it before, in fact the only time I've considered love and dating like that in the past were when Kiba asked me out, and I knew the second he asked me out that I didn't like him." She knew she loved Hina-chan as a friend, hell sometimes it felt like they were sisters with how close they are. She just wasn't sure, she rarely thought about romance and now she's suddenly having to describe how she really feels about Hina-chan. It was difficult.

"Naruko, I've been in love with you since we were five. I only realized it during our second year at the academy. Will you go out with me?" She had known it was coming but it still made her blush. She was sure her face was as red as her hair. But it was kind of strange, she had been unsure just a moment ago, but just like when Kiba asked her out she instantly knew what her answer was. She shyly nodded and tried to speak but couldn't find the words. Hina-chan let her gather her thoughts in silence for a few long minutes before she finally managed to vocalize her answer.

"I'd like that. I'm not very good with emotions and putting my feelings in words. But I know I like you a lot, and. . . I'd like to be your girlfriend." She found it sort of funny. She could feel other peoples emotions to the point where it was sort of mundane, but she had a hard time attributing her own. She chalked it up to another weird thing about herself.

A look of joy spread on her friends face and she swiftly pulled her into a hug. Huh, maybe that's the reason Hina-chan likes to cuddle her so much. She found herself leaning into the embrace.

* * *

The class seemed to have mixed reactions when the two girls showed up to class the next day holding hands. Naruko had never cared about what other people thought of her. Well she mostly didn't care. She cared a lot about what Hina-chan thought of her. And when she was small (okay smaller) she was just curious about what other people thought of her (she still didn't understand the hatred), never has she really cared what they thought. She swept her gaze around the class curiously, despite her previous statement she was curious to see how they would react. Most of the girls in the class seemed relieved (and a few boys), Sasuke seemed disappointed, Kiba seemed upset. Shikamaru and Choji didn't seem to react at all and Shino still just sat quietly in the corner acting all mysterious. A few bland boys actually seemed upset with her. Iruka-sensei had a faint smile on his face and she swore she heard him say "Finally." Lastly there was Mizuki who wasn't doing anything to hide his disgust. She had to wonder if it's because she's dating a girl openly or because she's happy. Maybe he's jealous. She didn't like that thought. She looked at Hina-chan and shrugged. The two girls started heading to their seats.

A few more minutes pass before finally class began. Iruka-sensei quiets the chatter of the students and says, "As you all are aware graduation is fast approaching. If all goes well then every last one of you will walk out of this class as ninjas. It should come as no surprise that you will be given a final exam that will cover every topic you've studied in the past six years. In addition you will be able to use your self study for bonus points on the exam, so if you haven't been practicing seriously you might want to start." A few of bland kids let out groans, most hadn't realized studying Ninjutsu with no drive or direction wouldn't produce results. Of course the kids who groaned were the ones who would likely need those bonus points. Though to be fair Naruko would likely need them if Mizuki sets out to sabotage her like he has in the past. Naruko wasn't worried, she had worked hard for so long, and a little bit of sabotage wasn't going to be enough to undo that. "Now then let's head outside for your strength training."

The strength training class had been pretty normal until Kiba decided to open his mouth (which in itself is pretty normal). "The Dobe's a dumb dyke!" Whatever that meant sent him into hysterics.

Naruko turned towards Hina-chan and asked, "What's a dyke?"

"It's a rude word for girls who like other girls, a slur in other words."

"Was it a reaction like that you were afraid of?"

"Somewhat." Naruko didn't think she would ever react like that, to anything really. Her girlfriend (felt weird addressing her as such) had activated her Byakugan and was staring him down. Kiba seemed to take note and rather than cowering he doubled down.

"What the heiress upset that I called her girlfriend dumb? Or maybe you dykes are just overly emotional?" He went into another fit of hysterics. The rest of the class just sort of listened in an awkward silence. Naruko found herself annoyed. No. Annoyed wasn't the right word. She was mad. Was this how Hina-chan felt when people made fun of her?

"Kiba, I don't normally comment on your shit, because frankly it's not worth my time. But you're taking it too far." She was giving him a chance, a chance to back down and realize he's self destructing.

"I'm not scared of you."

"Well maybe I can change that."

"Whatever, you're still just a dumb dyke." Naruko only smiled in response. It wasn't an honest smile and there was no joy. The rest of the strength training would pass uneventfully, only made notable by the tension in the air between the two girls and Kiba.

They would come to their Taijutsu class and as luck would have it, Naruko was matched up against Kiba for the first match of the day. She glanced at Iruka and found he had a gleam in his eyes. Well it seemed he had set this up for her. There was a reason she liked him. She had a show to put on now. A vicious smile crept across her face as she entered the sparring circle. She still didn't really care that he insulted her, but he insulted Hina-chan and she had to let him know just how _overly_ _emotional_ she got over it.

"I'll show you how much better a man is when I kick your ass." Kiba seemed confident. He was behind her in the rankings but only barely. If she didn't take him seriously she could and would lose.

"So men are better if they hurt me? Thanks but I'll pass. Though for what it's worth you're not a man, so I don't think you'll be showing me anything." She flicked her eyes up to Akamaru, the white pup was allowed to join sparring matches starting this year as they were allowed to use anything in their arsenal to improve their Taijutsu. Really it wasn't right to call it the Taijutsu class anymore, it would be more accurate to call it the close quarters combat class. Non lethal weapons were allowed, Jutsu that enhanced their Taijutsu was allowed, and styles outside of the Academy style were encouraged (they had always been allowed). So Naruko wasn't going to hesitate to remove Kiba's advantage. Of course Akamaru never stayed in the ring with her for long, he could only ignore his fear for so long.

"Kick his ass Naru-chan." Naruko smiled at her girlfriend (thinking that still sent butterflies through her). Hina-chan was always so supportive of her. She liked her a lot for that. Her girlfriend had always been there for her. Actually now that she thinks about it there is a lot she likes about her girlfriend. Like how she smiles, or her beautiful eyes, or how she is so sweet to her little sister, or would save her from Hitomi's death cuddles (of course she usually followed that with her own, but Naruko didn't mind Hina-chan's cuddles anymore), she could go on. Unfortunately Iruka-sensei had other ideas as he called for the match to begin, and she did have an ass to kick.

She dashes forward and quickly throws a basic punch from the academy style. Kiba didn't seem to be thinking things through very clearly as he simply side stepped the punch. If he was he would know she doesn't use the academy style anymore and focused a lot more on landing devastating kicks. Like the one she just connected to his jaw. He fell backward and she briefly wondered if he fell unconscious. Her question was answered as he shakily got to his feet. She didn't give him time to breathe as she lashed out with another kick, this one connecting to his solar plexus. This time she augmented it with the slightest amount of chakra and he was sent tumbling out of the circle.

"Winner by ring out, Naruko! Now make the seal of reconciliation." Naruko walked up to Kiba and offered her hand. He hesitated for a moment, and she whispered to him.

"I know your hurting, and for what it's worth I don't hate you. But rather than lashing out and putting me and Hina-chan down why don't you just try and be friends with us." Kiba looked down and after a moment he nodded. He grabbed her hand and made the seal.

"Who wants to be your friend anyways. If anything we're rivals from here on out you hear me, Naruko?"

"Sure thing, Kiba." She wouldn't soon forget all his bullying, but she was willing to move forward and leave it in the past, it seemed he was finally willing to do the same.

Iruka chimed in, "While I'm glad you two have finally started getting along, I'm going to be the bearer of bad news. Kiba you're being given detention. Let this be a lesson to all of you. We here in Konoha do not allow such discrimination. These are the people you're putting your lives on the line with. We lie, we cheat, we steal, and we kill for a living, so mocking a fellow ninja, or even a civilian, for living their life the best they can is unacceptable. I hope to never see any of you bringing shame to Konoha like that in the future." Ninja villages didn't support such behavior and Konoha was no exception. That being said Fire Country didn't legally allow for gay marriage, in fact homosexual behavior was considered deviant and ground for imprisonment. Konoha was excluded from those laws however. Essentially a ninja village was a city state that had a very strong allegiance with their respective country. Konoha made it's own laws and had a leader that they answered to above all else and they were allowed free travel in Fire Country and to operate within the country with impunity. In return they protected Fire Country at all times, from threats foreign and domestic, they also payed a tax to the country. It was mutually beneficial. This same system was more or less how it functioned in every country with a ninja village. It's also the reason that homosexuality is perfectly fine in Konoha, but illegal in Fire Country without creating a tension between the two. Of course this was the same for many of the laws Konoha had in place that directly went against Fire Countries. The only real tension is created by civilians who recently moved into the village and carried those belief with them. But they're a small minority and the Hokage (who has absolute power in Konoha) wasn't about to sate a few civilians at the cost of harming the happiness of his ninja.

* * *

"Before we begin your exam I'm going to be passing a form around. It's simply to request whoever you'd like to be on a team with. It's not a guarantee that you'll get these people on your team, but it will be taken into consideration when teams are being selected. Just write down your name at the top and then the top three students you want to be paired with along with the reason why."

Well it should be obvious that she was putting Naru-chan as the first student. They had to be on the same team for her to protect the adorable redhead. She wrote the girls name in and stated "We've been training together for years and are familiar with working together and each others combat styles." Hinata didn't really care who else was on her team. She still didn't like Kiba but his mocking had clearly gone from being malicious to a form of banter with her girlfriend. The InoShikaCho trio was already set in stone so she wasn't really going to bother listing Shikamaru or Choji. Sakura was. . . Sakura. So that really just left Sasuke and Shino (she didn't even bother considering the kids Naru-chan called "weirdly bland"). She listed simpler reasons for the two boys, one was smart and clever and the second was even with her in skill if the class rankings were anything to go by. She turned in her form and returned to her seat. They had an exam to take.

* * *

A/N So here's chapter 3. Hope everyone had a happy Halloween. Anyways I tried out a different process for rewriting this chapter, that left more of the original chapter in tact so for the older readers I'd like to know, do you prefer this or the complete redo of the originial? As a more general question, how does everyone feel about the chapter? I think it was a lot of fun to write and I certainly hope it was fun for everyone to read. The two girls are finally starting their relationship so that's exciting (yay for the gay). Anyways, chapter four should hopefully be out in the next 2 weeks to a month, same as before. So yeah, I'll see you all next time and thanks for everyone for all the love.

CM 11/01/2019

It was kindly pointed out that Henge no Jutsu is a physical transformation, not an illusory one like I mistakenly thought. So I went back and changed the part that mentioned it to correct for this mistake.

CM 11/04/2019


	4. Learning the Truth

Hinata stared at her girlfriend lovingly. Iruka was currently passing out the exams and Naru-chan was practically vibrating with excitement. Of course that was a bit of an overstatement, but she knew Naru-chan's tells well enough to know when the girl trying her best to keep her excitement from bubbling over. This was one such time. Hinata swore, everytime she noticed something new or old about Naru-chan she fell deeper in love with her. But she supposed that came with the territory when she's been in love for so long.

The students had all gotten a bit antsy, the lack of exercise had a surprising impact on how calm they were. Hinata had to guess that it was the reason they worked out in the mornings throughout the academy, to work off this energy sooner rather than later. Because of the tests the schedule had been flipped today so as to avoid any potential injury that would stop them from being able to take the tests. Hinata had to assume it would be a bureaucratic nightmare delaying the team formations just because one student hadn't technically failed and could potentially have a large impact on team dynamics. Her eyes shifted to Naru-chan, she would be one such example if she somehow got knocked out. As Iruka placed her test in front of her she thought of the grade break down he had told them just prior to passing out the tests. The written exams were broken into four tests. Each worth 10 points, except the one covering civilian subjects which is worth five points. Then they would move outside to do the physical portion of the exam where they would be tested on Taijutsu, their agility and their strength. Along with that they would be tested in their use of kunai and shuriken. Taijutsu is worth 12 points and weaponry is worth 10 points while the agility and strength are each worth four. Then they would get an hour long break for lunch before being tested on their ability to use stealth. That would be worth 15 points. Then they would be tested in the use of the leaf sticking exercise, that would be worth 7 points. The final required test would be over the three Jutsu learned in the academy where they could score up to 13 points. After that they could take a bonus test for up to 10 points on their chosen subject.

Hinata had no doubts that she would be fine in all subjects, she was top of her class for a reason. Truth be told she was more worried for her red headed girlfriend. They had come to the conclusion that someone had been falsifying her scores for some time now and the written test was just enough that failing it with a perfect score in all other subjects would still be a failing grade, she would be at the mercy of bonus points after that. There was also the fact that her girlfriend couldn't perform the Bunshin to a good enough level. Well it might be good enough if she is allowed to go up to 5 or more clones. They had finished the water walking exercise, but she could only barely make five functioning clones, any less and they all turned out dead looking. She knew the other subjects would be fine, Hinata would never stand for her girlfriend to to be any less proficient than herself (well that wasn't entirely true, if Hinata could really have it her way Naru-chan would just be a civilian housewife for her, but that wasn't likely to happen). Well if nothing else Naru-chan was almost assured to get full points for the bonus seeing as she had learned a genjutsu called False Senses: 100 blooming flowers.

Hinata was already certain she would be the Kunoichi of the Year. She had the best grades in her graduating class by far among the other girls. Truth be told the only other girl in class that could remotely match her was Naru-chan (and she had already established that the redheads grades didn't match her skill, leaving a wider gap than there truly was). Truth be told she wouldn't be surprised if she Managed to claim the title of Rookie of the Year. They were dead even for academics and jutsu use. And she was the strongest in the class at Taijutsu, so unless he managed to steal the spot away with bonus points it was more or less hers.

Hinata looked over her girlfriend. She had grown, quite a bit over the years. She was still small to be certain, but she wasn't the tiny child and malnourished child that she once was. Naru-chan stood at 4'6". She was still a full five inches smaller than the average for girls their age, but Hinata enjoyed that fact. She herself was the exact average at 4'11" which she fully enjoyed, it meant she got to be the one who did the holding. Well truth be told she would have even if she was the shorter of the two, but it gave her an excuse. Naru-chan often complained about her height, but it was more a frustration for having to stand on her toes to kiss the white eyed girl.

* * *

Naruko leaned in and whispered to her girlfriend. "Careful not to stare to much, it makes it look like you're undressing me with your eyes." Hina-chan looked her dead in the eye and responded.

"How do you know that's not what I'm doing?"

"You could just use your Byakugan for that." It was the truth, if her girlfriend really wanted to see her naked it's not like she had to imagine it, she had X-ray eyes and could use them at will.

"Hmm, you make a good point, remind me to do that later."

"Can do." They quited down as Iruka got to their desks and started handing out their papers.

It didn't take long for Naruko to finish. The test wasn't hard, Hina-chan made sure she knew all the material inside and out, so she was able to finish fairly easily. It's not like it really mattered anyways, she could probably write whatever she wanted and her answers would still be replaced by different wrong ones. She had actually tried that once on a homework assignment but Hina-chan noticed and made her write in the proper answers.

She decided to use the time remaining to do something more meaningful, in other words that would be staring at her girlfriend. The words sort of made her heart flutter. She had been dating her for a little while now and she still couldn't get over the fact that they were dating. Initially she didn't really know how she felt but as time went on she had decided that she did indeed feel the same way for Hina-chan. Truth be told she thinks she always felt that way, but just didn't know how to identify the emotion until after the fact.

Anyways, back to her cute girlfriend who she's currently staring at. Her girlfriend was currently wearing loose navy blue pants that were taped off at her ankles, along with an open jacket that was a light shade of black with a few dark red stripes running along it vertically. The jacket had seen some wear and tear as the sleeves had come ripped off at some point, and after much work on Naruko's part had been mended, albeit in a very amateur way. She had given her girlfriend the jacket for her most recent birthday and the girl had taken to wearing it all the time, she had actually seemed to wear it more after Naruko offered to try repairing it (The Hyuuga clan had menders, but it was Naruko's gift and she was the one who tore it during their training, so she felt like it was her job to fix it). Underneath the Jacket was a light gray shirt that had the Hyuuga clan crest emblazoned over the heart as well as on the back (not that it could be seen with the jacket currently covering it). Lastly to complete her ensemble was a mesh undershirt that, as a result of the jacket having been torn, poked past the sleeves and went down to just above her elbows.

Hina-chan tended to wear lighter clothes in general as a result of her fighting style being one that was much more reliant on speed. Everyone seems to forget that the Jyuken is incredibly fast. Just because the user isn't running all over the place or being super acrobatic doesn't mean it's not fast. Just take the 64 palms. Hina-chan can land all of them within two seconds, that requires a lot of speed, and as a result Hina-chan's build has ended up becoming quite lean. It contrasted quite a bit with herself. Her weight training was the type that allowed for putting on more muscle. In other words she was denser, weight nearly six pounds more than Hina-chan despite the other girl being so much taller.

Speaking of her weights Naruko had realized the amount of weight she has strapped to her limbs is apparently pretty abnormal. She found out from a weird green guy that most ninja only use upwards of five pounds on each wrist and leg. Naruko was close to thirty. This made it so she was pretty good at lifting heavy things, surprising far more so than Hina-chan. It also allowed for her to get bursts of speed by removing the weights. Even with her weights off Naruko still tends to lose to Hina-chan in sparring. She knew a lot of that was just because Hina-chan truthfully trained more than anybody she knew (with the exception of maybe the green guy) and she had the talent to back it up. But she liked to think she would start doing better once she learns a new Taijutsu style. Hopefully her Jonin-sensei will teach one. The Academy style, while good for teaching the basics of combat can only go so far (it doesn't help that she can't trust any instruction Mizuki gives her in it, so she's stalled), and it certainly can't match up against the Jyuken or other clan techniques. Naruko only wins those matches with brute force. She had tried to learn one of the other styles in Konoha's public domain but images on scrolls really isn't that helpful. All she really knows is that she'd like it if the style involved a lot of spins. She had grown really fond of spin kicking Kiba out of the ring. She may be short but she's grown very flexible, something Hina-chan laughs weirdly about whenever it's mentioned, because she wants to be well rounded physically. She makes sure to practice stretching every day, doing things like the splits and putting her legs behind her head and other flexibility exercises. She didn't think with her training style she'd ever be on the extreme end of flexibility (she had seen one genin who seemed capable of folding himself into a box and hiding in it, it was freaky but she could see the use).

Naruko hadn't stopped wearing dresses, but now she ties a sash around her waist to stop it from being too loose. She mainly wears a navy blue dress with a lavender swirl on the back. The swirl is made of vines and the vines expand out across the rest of the dress. The dress went down to her mid thigh, and she had black spats that poked out below it. Underneath the dress she still wore mesh undershirts that visibly covered her collar bone and acted as the sleeves of her outfit. Aside from all that she had finally started cutting her hair, she had decided enough is enough when it reached her feet and she started tripping on it. She still kept it long for Hina-chan but she made sure it didn't grow past her knees. Hina-chan had been surprisingly okay with the change, but Naruko chocked that up to the fact that what spurred the change was the time she tripped mid spar and nearly got seriously hurt. Hina-chan takes her safety very seriously and Naruko appreciated it a lot.

Speaking of her hair those two strands that look like ears had started to put up more resistance to being brushed out. She still could brush them down but she had to dedicate a lot more time to it in the mornings. She still didn't know why it did so, according to Hina-chan that didn't happen to her or anyone else in her family, so maybe it was just a weird quirk of Uzumakis (Are there more? She wasn't sure, the name had to come from somewhere right?). Either way it made her mornings longer and that wasn't something she enjoyed.

The last change of note hit Hina-chan harder than it did Naruko. They entered puberty, at least that's what Hina-chan called it. It was most apparent in that Hina-chan had started to grow boobs. Naruko did too but hers were pretty small in comparison. She's pretty sure her girlfriend was a C cup. The red head had started to give her girlfriend shoulder massages because apparently they were heavy and kind of hurt. Naruko didn't really get it. She was an A cup(according to Hina-chan she was high end of A-cup, she wasn't sure how she knew but shrugged, her girlfriend tended to know these things) and her shoulders never hurt. Though maybe it's because she's used to walking around with extra weight already. Naruko wasn't the smallest girl in the chest department at least, that honor went to Sakura who was still flat as a board. Truthfully Naruko didn't really understand why it was a good thing, wouldn't they just get in the way during a fight? Well she supposes they won't after all Hina-chan was still way stronger and she was pretty big.

The last change that puberty brought, and one she certainly wished didn't exist, was she had her first period (and the many subsequent ones to follow). Naruko had been so freaked out the first time it happened. She had no idea it was coming and then all of the sudden her belly was cramping like crazy. She had done what any reasonable person would do and asked her girlfriend what the hell was happening, and if she was gonna die. Hina-chan knew how to handle it however and after they were done getting her some medicine they had Hitomi tell her about Sex Ed. (Apparently it wasn't going to be taught in school and was instead left to parents or orphanage mothers). It had been thought by a lot of people that they would learn about it when learning about seduction but Academy students are never taught about seduction, apparently it's rare for genin to be taught. It was more a chunin skill as the village knew most people (but not all) weren't interested when a twelve year old comes onto them. So anyways, Hitomi taught her how babies are made and about wearing proper protection. Of course Naruko had bluntly said that it wouldn't be a problem because she only loves Hina-chan and that boys always have been, and always will be, gross.

It was a little disappointing to find out that they couldn't have a child of their own. She had been hoping that maybe one day they could start a family, but she quickly got over it. Having lived in an orphanage for a few years she knew that adoption was a valid option and a lot of kids really needed it. Though she had found it sort of interesting that Hina-chan was more concerned about their lack of ability to make kids. When she had asked she had muttered something about it being an heiress problem. Naruko had left it at that.

Now that she thinks about it the Hyuuga clan became really weird around her after she started dating Hina-chan, the villagers got meaner but they always get meaner over time. Hitomi had started to take pictures of the two girls a lot more, and scolding Hina-chan for not asking sooner. Hiashi simply said he's fine with it but they will have a steep hill to climb in the future. Something about the elders and the caged bird. Hina-chan's little sister, Hanabi seemed weirdly fond of the redhead and at the same time mad at her. Mad because she claimed Naruko was taking her big sister away, but fond because she also seemed to want Naruko to become her big sister in the future. Ko had simply said Iruka owed him fifty ryo for their bet. She didn't know what the bet was for, but good for him.

Naruko had also met Hina-chan's cousin, Neji, he was a year older than them and was currently a genin. He was really mean to Hina-chan and her for some reason. He told Hina-chan when she was being introduced to him. "Dating a failure only proves to me that you're also a failure." Naruko doesn't get how she's a failure, she's plenty strong even if she is the dead last. He also went on about how it's their fate to separate for the good of the Hyuuga clan. Naruko didn't like that. She started to ignore the boy from then on. Anyone who tried to separate her and Hina-chan or mocked their relationship was not someone she wanted to see.

They had also let the Ichiraku family know about their relationship. It went as expected, Ayame-nee squealed in excitement and Teuchi-ojisan just looked on proudly before pinning Hina-chan with a menacing stare and saying. "You might be a ninja but you break her heart and I break you." Hina-chan said in response.

"I'd sooner die then hurt her." That made Naruko blush but she scolded Hina-chan for that, she never wants to hear her talk about dying.

Naruko is dragged out of her thoughts as Iruka-sensei takes up their first tests and hands out the second. It was just as easy as the first and she quickly finds herself bored again. This happens another two times before she's finally done with the four written tests. She practically shot of her seat as he called for them to head outside. She didn't realize how badly she needed to stand up. But now at least she was at the portion of the test that Mizuki (or someone else, she didn't have absolute proof it was him, but he seemed most likely given that Iruka-sensei was the only other person to grade for the class) couldn't falsify her scores for physical tests.

The class was split into three groups upon heading outside, some kids were sent to the sparring ring, others to the kunai range, and the last group was sent to the empty field where they do strength and agility training. Naruko was in the second group while Hina-chan was put in the first.

The test was easy enough. There were three targets, the one farthest back is worth two points whenever it's hit, the one in the middle is worth 1 whenever it's hit and the closest one is only worth one point if hit in the bullseye. There are no points for missing but the two outer targets award double points for hitting the bullseye. They would stop as soon as they either ran out of kunai or reached ten points. Naruko hit the bullseye on the middle one twice, the outer one once, and the closest one twice. She managed to get ten points by using all five kunai. Once everyone was finished with kunai they moved onto shuriken. The test was the same, just with a different weapon. Once more Naruko scored full points by using all five shuriken.

Her group was rotated to the Taijutsu ring where Hina-chan's group had just finished and were moving to the field. She briefly wondered who is in charge over there, because Iruka-sensei is at the kunai range, and Mizuki is here at the Taijutsu ring. Guess she'll find out soon enough. Today they were sparring against Mizuki for the test. They simply had to last thirty seconds or knock him out of the ring for full points. Failing to do either of those they would be awarded points based on how long they lasted. When it was Naruko's turn to go up she noticed pretty quickly that Mizuki got tense. Oh guess he's going all out. Before he can call for them to begin she asks, "Hey Mizuki-sensei, can I take off my training weights before we begin?" Mizuki allows it not seeing what losing five or so pounds on each limb would do for her. She removes them quickly and jumps a few times to adjust to the change in weight.

Mizuki seeing she's ready calls for them to begin. He rushes forward and tries to kick her in the stomach and out of the ring. She jumps up flipping over his leg while she grabs it with her hands. Landing back on her feet and still holding the extended leg she throws him. He nearly flies out of the ring but manages to flip mid air and land on his feet. He had taken his eyes off her while flipping and landing only to find a foot lodged in his stomach when he looked back at her. The wind is knocked out of him and he falls backwards out of the ring. He stands and forces a smile, or at least she thinks it looks forced. "Very good Naruko you'll receive full points for this test." She knew he couldn't falsify this, if Iruka's subtle staring was anything to go by. Plus it was hard to say there is a good reason to not get full points when she beat the chunin in Taijutsu. He had failed to hide his sabotage from her but she knew he at least tried to not be obvious.

A few more kids went after her and most of them managed to pass the test. Her group was moved to the field where she found an older boy, maybe 15 or 16, she didn't recognize waiting, he was wearing the chunin flak jacket. He wore one of the bandanna style forehead protectors, and had a pretty average face. Seeing them arrive he says "Hello, I'm Ryuugen Yatogo, and I will be instructing you all for today's test." He looks around the class before continuing. "I've set up an obstacle course in the field," he says while raising an arm and gesturing behind him, "I'll be timing how long it takes you to get through it, if you can make it through in under a minute then you will get full points, for every 10 seconds over a minute I'll be removing points. Upon completing the course you'll see a circle. It's a gravity array, made with fuinjutsu, when you step in it will activate and the gravity around you will double. It will continue to go up by a factor of two every 10 seconds until you collapse. You'll be graded based on how long you last. You get full points if you last until the second stage and if you can manage to get past it then you will be awarded two bonus points for every stage beyond it." That's interesting, she hadn't realized they would get extra points outside of the bonus test, but she guesses it makes sense.

Naruko realizes she forgot to put her weights back on, oh well at least that means she'll get through the obstacle course faster. She managed to get through the course in under thirty seconds, the fastest of any student in her class. The gravity array was easier than she thought it would be. The first stage, two times gravity, was pretty easy because she's used to walking around with more than double her weight. The second stage was making her sweat but she could tough it out. By the third stage she could only barely stand. By the fourth stage she felt like all her blood was gathering in her legs, she was feeling woozy. She barely made it to the fifth stage using force of will and almost made it to the sixth before falling over. Still most of the kids are looking at her in shock, most had only managed to barely make it to the second stage before dropping, the only other student to make it to the third stage was Sasuke, who she only just realized was in her group. She wonders how Hina-chan did when she took the test.

They were given their lunch break and Naruko ate with Hina-chan, apparently the other girl had aced all her physical tests as well. The white eyed girl had managed to last longer than Sasuke under the gravity array, she made it to the fourth stage, but she went slower than him during the obstacle course. Hina-chan had also dismantled Mizuki during Taijutsu sparring, without even using chakra (he still had to be capable of testing the other students). Instead she hit pressure points that can be released easier. While they were eating, their written tests had been scored and passed back. Hina-chan got full points in all subjects. Naruko looked at her own test and found she had averaged about half points on all subjects,except the civilian subject test wherein she was given zero points. Her scores were falsified once more. Her total score so far currently putting her at 51 points, she needs to get 19 more to pass and become a ninja. Hina-chan had actually already passed with 71 points.

Lunch ended and they were tested on stealth, it was a surprisingly simple affair where they merely had to avoid being found by the three chunin that tested them earlier for a minute and 30 seconds to get full points. If they were caught early then they would lose points for every five seconds they had failed to hide. They were sent in one at a time and given 20 seconds to find a place to hide. Hina-chan lasted the entire time while Naruko was caught in half a minute, her bright hair betraying her easily. Hina-chan had already locked down her position as a genin while Naruko still needed to earn 16 more.

Luckily the next test was covering the leaf sticking exercise which she had mastered years ago. She was proven right when she was easily able to get full points on it making it so she only needs to earn nine more points to pass. After that they went inside for the next and last phase of testing. She sort of felt weirdly nervous as she went back into the building. If she failed to get those remaining nine points she just wouldn't pass outright.

They started the Ninjutsu test, which apparently would also be combined with their self study test. They would be individually entering another room where Iruka-sensei and Mizuki would be evaluating their ninjutsu skills. They were called in alphabetically so Naruko had quite the wait ahead of her. She did excitedly congratulate Hina-chan when she walked out with her headband. When she asked what her score was in the end she said she got 116 points. Naruko hugged her brimming with excitement for the both of them since the considerably calmer girl wasn't expressing it, she seemed more concerned with something else. The two stayed and talked until Naruko got called in.

The Ninjutsu portion was simple according to Iruka-sensei. She would just have to show them the three academy jutsu without the Jutsu failing. "Now first, please perform the Henge." Naruko does so transforming into an exact copy of Hina-chan. Iruka-sensei nods and continues. "Now do the Kawarimi with that log in the corner, then Kawarimi back after ten seconds." Once more Naruko does as instructed with out much effort. Iruka-sensei nods once more and says "Alright now perform the Bunshin no Jutsu and produce three clones."

"Iruka-sensei would it be alright if I produce more clones?"

"Yes you may, but know there is no bonus for the extra clones." Naruko nods and makes six clones that all seem perfectly healthy. Iruka-sensei smiles at her and says, "Congratulations Naruko, come up and take your headband, would you like to take the bonus test?"

"No that's alright, I'm not in the running for the top spot anyways so I don't need it." She had barely passed with 73 points but she still passed, so she doesn't really care to do the bonus test. Naruko tied the headband around her forehead only to stop as she did. It felt weird there, like the world seemed dimmer, but it didn't actually get dimmer. Weird, she chose not to wear the headband for now, she'd ask for Ayame-nee's help later with sewing it into her sash around her waist (she had started getting help from her after the jacket incident). She walks out of the room and sees Hina-chan waiting at their seat, she smiles and flashes the headband at her. Hina-chan's almost a blur as she glomps the redhead. Naruko giggles at that, it seemed they were both more excited for the other than they were for themselves.

"Congratulations Naru-chan!" Naruko smiles brightly at the taller girl, before leaning forward and giving her a chaste peck on the lips.

"Thanks Hina-chan!"

They didn't notice how long they spent like that until Iruka-sensei and Mizuki stepped out of the room and looked down at the two girls laying on the floor. Mizuki clicked his teeth in disgust. Naruko looked up at him and glared. Iruka-sensei spoke up, or down at the moment. "Can you two return to your seats so we can give our last lecture before sending you off?" The two girls nod and return to their seats.

Iruka nods his head and looks out at all of them. He speaks, his voice filled with fondness and pride. "It was six years ago that I met you all as a new chunin instructor, assigned to teach you for your entire duration here in class 103 of the first academy. I've seen each and every one of you grow into admirable shinobi that I look forward to working alongside for years to come. You may have your differences but never forget, You're all ninjas of Konoha now and every person in this room is your comrade in arms. We all serve the great tree of Konoha to protect our people and our loved ones. That is what makes this village the greatest in the elemental nations. And I see it in each of your hearts that you possess this passion. This passion we have all come to know as the Will of Fire, passed down to us from the Shodaime Hokage himself. Now I ask you the same question I did six years ago when we first met. Why are you becoming a ninja? Think about this tonight and keep that in your heart when you meet your Jonin-sensei." He finishes his speech and smiles at his class. "I'm also pleased to announce that this years Rookie of the Year is. . . Hyuuga Hinata. Uchiha Sasuke is the runner up. Now then You're all dismissed, be sure to be here tomorrow at nine A.M. to meet your new sensei." He pauses and adds as an after thought, "And if you ever want to talk, you know where to find me."

The classroom is quickly emptied and the two girls head outside to find Hitomi, Hanabi (who is currently in her second year at the academy), and the Ichiraku family waiting for them. The two girls are hugged by the two families and congratulations are passed all around. Naruko can't help but ask where Hiashi is.

Hitomi responds. "He's currently back at the compound organizing the celebration party." Hanabi pipes up after.

"Otou-sama got you lots of cinnamon buns Nee-chan!" Hina-chan smiled warmly at her sister and gave her a hug. After a few moments she breaks the hug and says to Naru-chan.

"Anything you'd like to do before we go celebrate?"

"No that's okay, The Ichirakus are going to be giving me a celebration dinner tomorrow, cause they knew I'd want to go to your party." Hinata smiles and takes the redheads hand in her own.

"Then let's go."

"Yeah!"

They took a step forward, no longer as students, but as soldiers and (by law) adults. Naruko couldn't help but smile, they would finally get to move onto the next stage of their lives.

* * *

It had been a nice night, the atmosphere in the compound was generally pretty lighthearted. Naru-chan and Hinata were currently sitting alone in one of the compounds gardens. The two girls were side by side with their fingers interlaced. Naru-chan was leaning against Hinata, her head resting on the taller girls shoulder. After what seems like hours of silence Naru-chan speaks, her voice soft, almost a whisper.

"You saved me, you know that Hina-chan? And I'm not talking about my seventh birthday." Hinata turns her head to look at the other girl. She's a bit confused, if anything the redhead saved her. She protected her from bullies and being kidnapped, and she helped her learn to be confident.

"How so Naru-chan?"

"If I hadn't met you I'd still be alone, maybe even still being abused by the Matron. Hina-chan you taught me it was okay to love myself. It's thanks to you I know what it feels like to be in love and to be happy." Naru-chan says now looking right at Hinata with a warm smile.

"It's funny Naru-chan, you taught me the same thing." Naru-chan starts to respond but Hinata leans in and captures her lips. It wasn't anywhere close to their first kiss, but it was perhaps the most passionate they had shared thus far. Hinata slides her tongue against Naru-chan's lips. The girl parts her lips and Hinata takes it as permission to advance. Only for Naru-chan to quickly pull away from the kiss and look at her in surprise.

"W-Was that your tongue?" They had never used tongue before but Hinata had thought the mood was right. Was she wrong? Did Naru-chan hate it?

"Yeah, is that a problem? Did you not like it?" Her tone is one of concern, she wouldn't have done it if she thought Naru-chan would dislike it.

"N-No it's not that I disliked it, I was just surprised. That's all."

"Then. . . Would you like to try it again?" Hinata asks wanting more but not wanting to push her girlfriend out of her comfort zone. After a moment Naru-chan nods her head and Hinata kisses her once more.

Hinata once more presses her tongue forward and Naru-chan once more parts her lips. This time however she doesn't back away in shock and Hinata takes it as a chance to explore more of her girlfriend in away she never had before. She had to admit, she was enjoying the feeling.

It had only seemed like moments but when they break apart they're both panting as though they ran a marathon. A string of saliva connects them. Naru-chan is the first to speak, breathlessly. "Wow." They had enjoyed kissing each other before but never had they kissed like that. They barely had words to describe how amazing it was.

"Yeah." Hinata was just as lost for words as Naru-chan. After a few moments pass Hinata speaks again. "What were you going to say?"

"What?"

"What were you going to say earlier, before I kissed you."

"Oh yeah, I was going to tell you I have a present for you. For saving me, for graduation, and just because I love you." That was enough to evoke a blush from Hina-chan. Naruko hands her a small wrapped box she had hidden on her. Hina-chan looks down at it and then back up at her. "Go ahead, open it."

The white eyed girl does so only to see it's actually two small sealing scrolls. She looks up at Naru-chan and uses chakra to open the one on the right. As she does Naru-chan speaks up. "Those are for saving me and graduating, I thought it fitting." It's a pair of fingerless gloves with metal plates, and arm guards, also made of metal. "The metal is chakra metal if you're curious." Hinata gasps at hearing that and activates her Byakugan. Chakra metal looks different then normal metal, sort of as if it's more empty, to the Byakugan. Indeed it does look different.

"Naru-chan, these must have cost you a fortune." She knows the other girl only gets a small stipend from the village. Naru-chan blushes.

"I've actually been saving up for them for three years now." Seeing Hina-chan's glare she says quickly. "No I wasn't skipping any meals to buy them don't worry." The white eyed girl stops glaring at that. She had made it her personal mission to make sure that Naru-chan was fed and part of that was making sure that she didn't spend her stipend on things she couldn't afford. But she had to trust that her girlfriend hadn't put her health at risk for these (as amazing as they are). "The other gift I made for you personally after we started dating."

Hinata turns her attention to the other scroll, and once more applies chakra to it. With a small poof of smoke, a small red and lavender heart pops out, Hinata realizes it's made of wood and Naru-chan painted it. "I know it's not as impressive, but I tried really hard to make sure it was shaped like a heart." Hinata thinks the other girl did a pretty good job, she can't see any carving marks at all. . . Wait, something is strange with this, this wood has chakra in it. The weird thing was, it wasn't Naruko's in fact if anything it sort of felt like her own.

"Naru-chan how did you make this?"

Naru-chan was starting to worry the other girl didn't like it and vocalized that concern. "Do you not like it? I'm sorry Hina-chan I'll try bett-" That was the last thing Hinata wanted her girlfriend to think, she loved the gift and Naru-chan had been so thoughtful, there was no way she wanted her to feel like Hinata wasn't grateful, because she was.

"No! Naru-chan I love it, I just got distracted by it that's all. This is amazing and don't you doubt that for a moment." Naru-chan smiles and nods her head. Then after a moment she answers the previous question.

"Oh! It was actually really strange!"

"How was it strange?"

"Well originally I was planning on tying our hair together into the shape of a heart." Ah, so that was why Naru-chan had kept some of her hair from when she trimmed it down to her knees. She had asked for some of Hinata's hair from her more recent haircut (it was just trimming up the split ends, nothing as large as Naru-chan's). Hinata had thought the request was a bit odd, but she didn't say anything about it. If a bit of her hair was all it would take to make her girlfriend happy then she would give her as much as she asks for.

"Okay, so you replaced it with wood?"

"No, see that's the weird part. I had tied it together and held it to my heart, hoping to infuse it with my love." Naru-chan sported the cutest blush as she spoke those words. Hinata waited for her to continue. "I don't remember how long I stood there but when I finally looked back down at it it had turned to wood. And seemed to have had a bit of that weird energy that's everywhere. Though the energy has faded from it since then."

"What energy?"

"Can you not see it with the Byakugan? 'Cause I can feel it when I sit really still. It's how I found you when the Kumo nin was trying to kidnap you. I just sat really still and tried to be calm." Hinata had no idea what energy it was, but that does explain two things she had been wondering, well kind of. It's probably the reason why Naru-chan's eyes changed back then. Hinata looks at the wooden heart again. How did her chakra get in it, and so strong too? It looked almost as if she had used a jutsu but a lock of hair wasn't nearly enough for that, clearly that energy had jump started something. But why can she see it remnants in this thing and not anywhere else? Did it have something to do with Naru-chan interacting with it? Or maybe it had something to do with it reacting with her own chakra?

Before Hinata can continue to ponder the situation with the heart she notices something odd with her Byakugan. Is that Mizuki with a scroll on his back? It has green stripes on either end along with thinner green stripes slightly further from the ends. Where had she seen that before? Maybe Naru-chan knew. "Hey Naru-chan do you know of any large scrolls in the village?"

"There's the one the Hokage keeps in his office."

"What does it look like?

"Besides being a large scroll? It also has some green stripes, I think."

While they were talking Mizuki had gotten out of the range of her Byakugan but she knows the rough direction he was heading. "I think I just saw Mizuki running off with it."

"Should we go after him?" Hinata knew Naruko wouldn't really care about their duty as Kunoichi, but she felt she should still check. After all it could cause problems if he stole it and it somehow gets found out that they knew and did nothing.

"Do you want to?"

"Not particularly, well not for the scroll, if he really did steal it we get an excuse to beat him up." She knew Naru-chan didn't care about the fact that he had likely sabotaged her, her adorable girlfriend was probably more upset about his reaction to their relationship. To be fair Hinata wanted to beat him senseless for both reasons so she was plenty eager.

"Then lets go." Hinata had never forgiven the man for the time he had tried to pull her aside from class to tell her that 'she could do better than _her_' She had been tempted to beat him then and their but figured it would cause problems if she did. He was allowed his freedom to speak about another person and she would be crossing a line. Of course she was well aware of the fact that the Hokage wouldn't side with her when it comes to protecting Naru-chan from such harassment. That being said she was also in her right to tell of people who said otherwise to her girlfriend or their relationship and she had made it a habit of doing just that to civilians and anyone else who tried. The elders weren't pleased but she was talented enough that they buried their complaints.

The two girls quickly set out in the direction their instructor went but they weren't able bring him back into range of Hinata's Byakugan. She tells the other girl to stop. Naru-chan did so but asked in confusion. "Why are we stopping, I know you're not tired." It's true, the girls had trained together enough that they knew the others stamina well. Hinata stifles a blush at that thought.

"You said you were able to find me by sitting still, right?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think you could use it to track down Mizuki, just think about him once you've done what ever needs to be done and then that energy will do the rest?" The idea had merit but Naru-chan whined none the less. She wasn't sure if that's how it would work, Hinata had a suspicion that it could, if only because she knows what had been going through her girlfriends head that night.

"But I don't wanna think about Mizuki."

"Please Naru-chan, think about it this way, if this works we'll find out a little more about your powers." That's what the two called the strange abilities Naruko occasionally exhibited.

"Alright, but only because you're asking." With that Naru-chan sits in the lotus position and seemingly starts meditating. Hinata is watching her carefully to look for changes. They come quickly. Two of Naru-chan's bangs float upwards forming something that looks like ears. The girl also seems to suddenly be wearing red eyeliner. Naru-chan's eyes snap open to reveal they too have changed. Normally they are a deep purple with normal sclera, now they're entirely red, both the sclera and iris, with the pupils a darker shade of red. More shockingly was how Naru-chan's whole pigment changed, she grew much paler and her hair turned white as snow. Naru-chan stands and speaks. "Alright I've found him." Hinata also couldn't help but note that a small little red dot appeared on Naru-chan's forehead.

"Let's go then." Hinata would consider about the transformation later.

* * *

The two girls take off with Naruko in the lead. She had nearly outpaced Hina-chan a few times and had to actively slow herself down so the other girl can keep up. They arrive in the forest on the west edge of the village. The two girls rocket into the clearing just in time to see Mizuki throw a huge Fuuma shuriken at Iruka-sensei.

No words need to be spoken between the two girls as Naruko rushes towards Mizuki while Hina-chan intercepts the weapon, blocking with her new arm-guards. The two men look in shock as the two newly minted genin burst into the clearing. Mizuki steps back in fear, she's not really sure why he was afraid, he was typically pretty arrogant. Naruko continues rushing towards him, and while he manages to put up a block he wasn't at all prepared for the strength of the girl, it's like she got way stronger in just a few hours! He's kicked back into a tree. "Tag in." Mizuki looks up confused, as Naruko steps away. He tries to move and winces. He clearly hadn't noticed her swapping with Hina-chan as the taller girl moved in and connect a powerful Jyuken strike to his shoulder. She'd taken enough of those to know that he probably won't regain use of the entire arm for a day without assistance from a Hyuuga.

They move to knock him out but he manages to stop them with two sentences. "Wait! If you knock me out then you'll never learn why everyone in this village hates you Naruko!" The two girls look at each other and from behind they hear Iruka-sensei call out.

"No! You can't it's forbidden!" The two girls ignore him and Hina-chan says.

"We're listening."

Mizuki turns towards Hina-chan and says, "I wonder if you'll still like her after this." He lets out a weak chuckle. "12 years ago on October 10th a powerful demon attacked the village."

"We already know that, everyone already knows that." Naruko says kind of bored, she had stopped being curious about why she's hated a long time ago, but Hina-chan really wanted to know.

"Yes and the Yondaime defeated it. But he never killed the beast, oh no, instead he sealed it inside of a new born child. You are that child Naruko! You are the demon!"

"But you just said it's sealed inside me."

"Yes but it took possession of you from within the seal! Don't you get it you're a monster!" Naruko watched him carefully as he seemed to panic at her lack of caring, a quick glance towards Hina-chan showed she started to contemplate something. Her eyes snap back to Mizuki as the sound of a kunai flying through the air draws her attention. She snatches it out of the air before it got a chance to hit her girlfriend. "Dammit why are you okay with this! Did you already know you're a monster?!"

"No not really, I just don't see how it matters, even if I am a monster I still act human. And I still love like a human, and hate like a human. And I do everything in between, so if I'm a monster I don't do a very good job of being monstrous. And from what I've seen, there are plenty of humans who do a poor job of being humane." If abusing a child was what a normal 'good' human does then she would rather be a monster.

Naruko watched as several emotions flicked across Iruka-sensei's face, pride and a hint of shock. Then contemplation before determination. She said nothing as he silently and quickly approached Mizuki who seemed to be having some sort of breakdown. Whatever it was ended swiftly as Iruka knocked him unconscious. Iruka stairs at her for a moment before a look of confusion crosses his face, Naruko doesn't think much of it as she moves a bang away from her face, it somehow just moved there all on it's own.

"What happened to you Naruko?"

"What do you mean, Iruka-sensei?"

"Your hair and eyes were different." She had no idea what he was talking about and merely shrugged, she would talk about it with Hina-chan later.

* * *

It made sense. Not the Naru-chan being a demon bit, that was nonsense, but her having the demon sealed inside her makes a lot of sense. It would explain the second chakra source of terrifying power. It would also explain what the power was that she used to kill the cloud nin. Though it leaves some mysteries, like what is the energy she feels all around them? Or why does she seem to take on rabbit like traits? From what she had seen from the few pictures taken of the beast it looked nothing like a rabbit. Why did Naru-chan feel strange compulsions towards certain things, like leaving her forehead uncovered (she had no idea what the thing about the world getting dim was), or Genjutsu? Was Naru-chan's transformation a result of channeling the demons chakra? Or was it something else entirely? These are all questions she can't yet answer. She's snapped out of her thoughts as Naru-chan shakes her.

"Hey Hina-chan we have to go report to the Hokage about what happened tonight." It looked like Naru-chan wanted to ask her something, and was slightly pensive about it, but as Hinata laces her fingers through Naru-chan's the look disappears. Hinata realized at that moment what Naru-chan had wanted to ask and she gives her hand a soft squeeze. Naru-chan smiled at her and squeezed back in response.

Looking down at her arm-guards she sees a faint scratch in them and frowns. "Sorry Naru-chan looks like I already scratched them." The two girls were walking with Iruka-sensei towards the Hokage tower while he carried the traitor.

"That's okay, it just means they're doing their job and protecting you." They fall into a comfortable silence for a while before Iruka-sensei breaks it.

"So how did you two know to look for Mizuki? The order was only given to chunin and jonin."

"I happened to see him pass by the compound while I had my Byakugan active."

"Yeah Hina-chan thought there was something fishy with the scroll so we followed him."

"It's a good thing you did, he had me on the ropes and I probably would have been hit by that shuriken if you hadn't blocked it." Iruka-sensei was stronger than Mizuki by a wide margin. The average chunin instructor is required to be almost tokubetsu jonin in strength if not more so, Iruka-sensei was between tokubetsu jonin and full jonin in strength. He just rejected promotions because he wanted to teach, to make sure the next generation could protect themselves (he had told them as much, she respected the man for his willingness to put the younger generation ahead of his own personal achievements). Teaching assistants aren't under such strict limitations and can be anywhere from newly minted chunin to long time veterans, Mizuki was barely stronger than the former.

"How did he have you on the ropes? From my understanding you are far stronger than him."

"He had been my teammate as a genin and we had been friends growing up. Imagine if Naruko betrayed you." She wouldn't be able to handle it, the mere thought made her upset. She can see now how that would effect Iruka-sensei, even if he far outclassed the other man.

They arrived not long after, Mizuki was quickly collected by the Anbu stationed at the tower to be taken to T&I (Torture and Interrogation), while the three of them were escorted up to the Hokage's office. The old man greets them kindly, sort of like a nice grandfather, and asks them to explain what happened. Iruka-sensei goes first explaining how he was alerted about Mizuki's theft like the other chunin and went looking in the forest the two had played in when they were younger. He had found him and the two engaged in combat only to stop when the two girls arrived.

The girls took that as their cue to explain things from their perspective, how they had seen Mizuki by coincidence and, after deciding the scroll was suspicious, followed after him in the direction they saw him heading. Hinata had taken the lead and when she left out the nature bit Naru-chan took that to mean she should too (she had been surprised that Iruka didn't mention anything but she suspected that he thought it was a Jutsu of some kind, she wouldn't tell him otherwise), so she did. From there the three of them explained what happened in the clearing and how Mizuki had spilled the secret concerning Naru-chan.

* * *

It had been an eventful night to say the least. The aged Kage had intentionally allowed Mizuki to take the scroll. It was under his and his ANBU's watch 24/7 there was no way such a weak chunin stood a chance of stealing it under normal conditions, but he saw a chance to out a traitor and potentially find out who he planned on selling the secrets to. It helped that the scroll was a fake to begin with, the man would have at best escaped with nothing, and depending on who he was going to, he would have died by their hands (his wayward student or Iwa come to mind).

The aged kage speaks while stroking his beard. His tone sharper than it was earlier. "I see, and how do you feel about learning of this Naruko-chan?"

"It's Naruko, and I don't really care, if I was a demon I think I'd be the first person to know it and the people who care for me don't seem to care either way." She squeezes the Hyuuga heiress's hand. The white eyed girl squeezes back. He knew about the relationship, he didn't really see the issue. The clan was tired firmly to Konoha and tying her to the clan would help insure her loyalty.

"I see and how do you feel about the villagers? For treating you so poorly?"

"I don't care about them." Well that's the sacrifice he made. He sacrificed her health and potential love for the villagers by letting them abuse her without repercussions. She wasn't wearing her forehead protector, that might be a bad sign. The last thing he needed was for her to feel that it's time to leave. He needed to find out about that now.

"And how do you feel about the village, and me?" He had to know if she is going to become a loose cannon. If he had to he would lock her up in Konoha's highest security cell for the rest of her life. He didn't want to risk killing her and the beast rampaging, or her leaving and then returning for revenge. She needed to be loyal or be restrained. There were no other options.

"I swore to protect it when I became a ninja, and I swore to obey you at the same time."

"So why are you not wearing your forehead protector then?"

"Oh I just wanted to sew the plate into my sash." She didn't seem to be lying, good. Hiruzen doesn't make any visual or audible signs of it but he can feel the relief flood through him. Despite all that has happened the girl is still loyal to the village. Or at least loyal to him.

"And what of you Hinata-san, what do you think about all this?"

"I had been suspicious of something like this ever since that night." She says putting emphasis on the word 'that'.

Hiruzen nods knowing she had seen Naruko's transformation closer than anyone else. And given that she just graduated as Rookie of the Year from Konoha's most competitive academy she was likely smart enough to have to figure out Naruko had some kind of relation to the demon.

"Alright then, Iruka-kun be sure to turn in a written report by tomorrow afternoon, if there is nothing else you have to say or ask then you're dismissed. I'll see you tomorrow Iruka." After a few moments he takes a kinder tone, and tries to talk like he would to his grandson. "Oh and Naruko-chan, congratulations on graduating."

"It's Naruko but thanks anyways." With that the two girls walk out hand in hand.

She clearly didn't have much in the way of positive emotions for her, but at the very least she seemed loyal. That was good enough. It would change, bonds are forged through combat and she would see much of it in her future.

* * *

The two girls were standing in front of the Hyuuga compound. Still holding hands. Looking at the redhead Hinata speaks. "I didn't get the chance to give this to you because of Mizuki, but I also got you a graduation present. Just let me run in and grab it for you."

Naruko smiles at her girlfriend and says, "Okay, I'll wait right here for you." Hina-chan nods and runs inside. A shiver runs up Naruko's spine. She turns and sees a red eyed crow staring at her. Something is off about it. It squawks at her and then flies away. She turns back to the entrance and sees Hina-chan running back to her with a box in hand. The girl holds it out for her, and she gently grabs it. It's about two and a half inches wide and seven inches long. She unwraps the box and removes the lid.

Inside are two six inch long senbon. They each had a little symbol tied to the ends. One is a red Hyuuga clan crest and the other is a lavender swirl. "They're chakra metal, and are meant to tie up your hair and act as weapons."

Naruko loved it. She loved her long hair and she knew Hina-chan did too. This was the perfect solution to the problem she's been having with her hair being too long. Though she would likely still be making sure it didn't get so ridiculous again.

"They're beautiful, can you teach me how to put my hair up with them?" Hinata nods, she had planned to do that anyways.

"I'll stop by your apartment early tomorrow and help you with it."

"Okay. . . I love you Hina-chan."

"I love you too Naru-chan." The girls hugged one another and shared a quick kiss.

"I'll see you tomorrow Hina-chan, thank you for the gift."

"See you later Naru-chan."

* * *

The next morning Hiruzen found himself meeting with several of his elite jonin, they were here to become sensei. Normally only regular jonin are in the pool to become sensei, but that only applies to the second through tenth academy. For the first academy elite jonin are in the pool to become sensei and get first pick of the students. Most elite jonin also have stricter standards on what it takes to be ninja so most students from the first academy end up in the reserve forces. But those who pass their jonin-sensei's test will be allowed the privilege of being trained by the best of the village. The sensei also only takes on one team during their career unless specifically requesting another. The team will be allowed to stay together until they all reach the rank of jonin.

Iruka was in the room with them along with the principal of the first academy, Yoshihido Aoba. They were there to advise the jonin on who would fit well together on a team. Some of it was unnecessary, for example it was already a foregone conclusion that they would be creating another generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio and they did not need the instructors to tell them that they compliment each other.

After having read their files two jonin in particular were arguing over who would get a certain girl.

"I'm telling you, Kakashi, I should have her because I can take her Genjutsu much farther than you ever could."

"And I'm telling you, Kurenai, she has no talent in it and it would be better if I train her in Ninjutsu. She has huge reserves and would make a great Ninjutsu specialist."

Hiruzen can't recall ever hearing elite jonin argue like this over the dead last of a graduating class. He turns to Iruka and asks. "You were the girls sensei, what do you think."

"Naruko might not have talent in Genjutsu but she has a real passion for it, and I think we should nurture that. More than anything though I think she needs to be put on the same team as Hyuuga Hinata."

"And why is that?" It was Asuma speaking this time.

"I saw it last night when they helped me apprehend Mizuki," The jonin had all been informed about what happened the previous night, "The two girls already have impeccable teamwork and would require a lot less work to make a fully functioning team. They barely even need to verbalize what they're doing for the other to react. It helps that they had both put each other down when requesting team assignments."

"Who did they each request as their third?" It was Kurenai who asked this time.

"Hinata put down Uchiha Sasuke as her third and Naruko wrote in Nara Shikamaru." Ah well they certainly weren't going to put Shikamaru on the team, he was already locked for Asuma on team 10.

That had been enough to convince them, the two girls would be put on a team together, so then who should their third member be? That was the question echoing through the minds of the people in the room. Should they go with Hinata's request and put Sasuke on the team? Would it be a problem having to rival clan heirs on the same team (even if one of those clans were gone)?

"We could do the traditional team of the top two students with the dead last." It was Yoshihido who spoke. That team composition typically fails horribly. In the best cases the teams are horribly out of balance and ultimately fall apart. And in the worst cases Konoha is left with the Sannin.

Hiruzen speaks, "That still puts them all on a team together, What other options are there?"

Kazuto responds looking down at the files of the remaining graduates who hadn't been put in teams yet. "The only students left are Aburame Shino, Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba, and Uchiha Sasuke."

Iruka speaks again. "Sasuke is the only one who will work. Shino and his insects are afraid of Naruko as is Kiba's ninken Akamaru. Not only that but the two girls can't stand Kiba because he constantly mocks Naruko. Though truth be told they did start to get along, or rather stop fighting, recently. Still I wouldn't recommend it."

"What of Sakura then?" Kakashi was the one asking this time.

"She despises the other two, and Hinata seems to hate her just as much."

Kurenai spoke next. "So why does Sasuke work?"

"He doesn't care about them, but they don't annoy him and they're strong. He likes strength and will be happy he's not being held back by weaklings. They are neutral to him and don't seem to mind him. They just don't like his fans." It seems Hinata would get her wish then. He was wary of the risks of creating such a high value team that could blow up horribly, but no one else seemed to fit.

Hiruzen nods and says. "Alright then we'll pair those three as a team." He didn't really want to create another top bottom team, the nickname for the team format, but this one seems to actually mesh so maybe it would work. "The last three will be put together as the last team."

Kakashi turns to the Hokage, "So who is getting Naruko?"

He smiled, and turned his head towards the Genjutsu mistress. It would be no good if he didn't keep his promise, can't have his Elite Jonin losing faith in him.

* * *

A/N Well it took like three months but it's here. Sorry about the wait. No idea when the next update will be. Realistically speaking it could be anywhere to within a weak from now to within a few months. We'll see. Thank you so much for everyone who has stuck around all this time and continues to read it. To all the new readers, hello I hope you've enjoyed it so far, and if you're not I'm glad you at least read this much. So I've decide to just not use the Japanese names of jutsu in the rewrite with a few exceptions here and there, and those are mainly for the ones I like the sound of better. For example i'm not going to translate Rasengan to spiraling sphere, but I will for other Jutsu.

Also just as an fyi I made an edit months ago about an error I made in regards to the Henge no jutsu that I intended to upload but never did, so that has gone up too. But it's super minor and has no actual baring on the story so it's not necessary to go back and read it, but for the sake of transparency I'm posting about it here too.

Until next time.

-CM 01/29/2020


	5. A Fleeting Memory

Hinata had arrived early at Naru-chan's apartment the following morning, as promised. Her redheaded girlfriend groggily answered the door, clearly having just rolled out of bed if her hair was anything to go by. There was also the fact that she was tiredly rubbing her eyes in the most adorable manner. She couldn't help but giggle a bit at the sight, it was abundantly clear the girl spent more time on her hair then she would readily admit if it was always this messy. She didn't say a word as she took Naru-chan into her bedroom and sat down on the bed, and gestured to the ground in front of her. Naru-chan nods and does as she indicated, taking a seat on the ground and leaning her head back onto Hinata's thighs. Hinata gently runs her hand through Naru-chan's red locks. She spots the brush she had given Naru-chan all those years ago and leans over to grab it. Finally she takes note of the bed head that seemed a little odd. The two bangs that were sticking up in a manor distinctly similar to the way it did the night before.

That's enough to get her thinking. Does the other girl channel the strange energy in her sleep? If the only real requirement is she sits still then does sleeping soundly work? Did Naru-chan just never notice anything odd in the morning? She might not have, she seemed unaware of the transformation and Hinata hadn't had a chance to explain what she saw yet.

"You know you transform when you use that energy."

"Really?"

"Yep, your hair turns white and you become much paler, your eyes also turn red. It sort of makes you look like an albino rabbit now that I think about it."

"Huh."

They fall into a comfortable silence as she starts to brush the girls hair. It's so soft, she knows Naru-chan only bothers to take care of it because she likes it and that always makes her heart flutter. Honestly Naru-chan is just so cute sometimes, more like all the time, and her blushes, rare as they are, are just the most adorable thing in the world. They always make it so Hinata wants to just cuddle her girlfriend for hours. Though she also wanted to do that when the older girl won her spars, or would excitedly point at something new or interesting, or would play with her little sister, or when she looked at her with those deep purple eyes that just seemed to sparkle and then flashed her with that bright smile that's only for her. She had it bad. It wasn't her fault, her girlfriend was unreasonably cute. Of course Hinata wouldn't blame her for that, it only made her love the girl more.

"What'cha thinkin' about?" She realized she had stopped brushing, Naru-chan must have noticed. She was looking right at her with a look of curiosity. God she loved that look when she just got so curious about something. Hinata often had to resist squealing when her girlfriend would tilt her head at times, like a confused puppy.

"You, and how much I love you." Naru-chan leans back at that. Hinata had just caught the appearance of a faint smile.

"I'm glad you asked me out."

"I'm glad I asked you out too." Hinata was well aware they would have simply remained friends forever if she never took the initiative. It's not like Naru-chan was one to hesitate, but she didn't understand emotions to well as a result of her childhood. Of course for all that they lost because of it, she sort of felt like it made the times when Naru-chan was expressive all the more poignant. When she was mad she was very mad, when she was happy she was very happy and so on.

"You know I just realized the villagers won't be allowed to hurt me anymore."

Hinata practically growls, though her brushing remains gentle. She'd never take her frustration out on the other girl. "They never should have been allowed to hurt you in the first place. . . Why did you never try and leave the village?" She would have never blamed Naru-chan for leaving. She would have missed her for sure, but she would have understood. The girl deserved to be happy _and _healthy.

"By the time I realized, or rather you made me aware, what they'd been doing was wrong I already had reasons to stay. I would rather stay in the village with you then leave by myself, even if it means the villagers would abuse me."

"Even knowing our leader sacrificed you for a supposed greater good?" Hinata had figured that out when she realized Anbu were always assigned to watch Naru-chan, but they would always wait to help her until after injury (she had even caught one who had tried to help but been stopped by another, it made her sick). According to Naru-chan one time she heard them say not to intervene until she had already been injured a bit, Naru-chan had assumed they didn't like her. Hinata knew better, the Anbu were nothing if not good at keeping their emotions out of their work, they would protect any other citizen with brutal efficiency, they seemed to avoid protecting Naru-chan with that same brutal efficiency. Hinata had made the truth of it clear to Naru-chan for her own safety. The bottom line was, they had standing orders to only make sure she survives, nothing more. Any abuse was allowed to happen within reason and as long as it was out of sight of foreigners.

"I can't forgive him for sacrificing me without my permission or my parents." They didn't have definite proof that he didn't have their permission. But he would look guilty everytime they were brought up and given that she was an orphan since birth they both suspect that he had them killed and for the sake of hiding that from them kept their identities a secret from Naru-chan. There might be another reason but it was likely just as awful, and likely still reflected poorly on the old man. Oh that reminded her she had news for her girlfriend.

"Hey Naru-chan."

"Yeah?"

"I know who you mother is."

"You do? For how long?"

"I found out last night after we parted, I decided to finally get some answers from Otou-sama." She had gone and asked him as soon as the two separated, she had thought it could shed some light. And Hinata had witnessed the wistful looks on her parents faces enough to know that the girl must resemble someone they knew.

"What did he say?"

"Your mother was named Uzumaki Kushina. Apparently she was a redhead and a bit of a loudmouth. She was, and now you are, the last known member of the extinct Uzumaki clan." She suspected that there may be more somewhere around the Elemental Nations, the clan was too old for there not to be, but no one knew of them as far she was aware. Most seemed to have long since abandoned their surname and can only be identified by that same red hair that Naru-chan has.

"I have a clan?"

"It would seem so."

"Then that means I'm also an heiress right?"

"I don't know if she was from the main branch, but it's a possibility." Every clan had a main family. People liked to talk poorly about the Hyuuga for having one but they were really just an extreme in the divide between the two branches. Even the noble Senju had a main line, although they have died out much like the Uzumaki.

"Well if it's true then that means we should have a closer social status now right?" Ah yes, social status, the reason the elders tried to use more than any other for why she can't marry Naru-chan. They had claimed it was always possible to just get a stud from the branch family to continue the lineage so her marrying a woman would only be a minor problem (though they say it's a minor problem, they still act like it's a big deal, because the truth of the matter was they hated the 'demon').

"Yes I suppose so."

". . ." Hinata was content to sit in silence as Naru-chan thought. "Uzumaki Kushina." The girl rolled the name around in her mouth. Finally after a few moments she smiled. "Mom."

Hinata smiled at that, she had actually been giving Naru-chan Uzumaki themed gifts for years now. The swirls she often gave were the clans crest, but she had always given them as her father and mother had guaranteed the girl would like them. It had quickly become a default as she saw the girl had indeed loved the emblem. She couldn't help but wonder if the desire for whirlpool was some sort of genetic memory. Or maybe an imprint from when she was a child and having seen her mother, like a lost memory that surfaced as an instinct? Or maybe it was just a coincidence that the girl liked it so much? It was hard to say.

"There all done with your hair, now where did you put the senbon?" Naruko gestures to her nightstand. The senbon were still in their box but the lid was open for viewing. Hina-chan reached over and grabbed both.

Hinata twists the other girls hair up into a twisted pony tail, then coils the hair to make it a roll, leaving a space between the hair and her head. She pinches the roll and tucks the end of the redheads hair into the space. Afterwords Hinata inserts the senbon at the top right of the roll pausing and then speaking at this point. "Stay still now, I don't want you to get hurt."

"Okay." With that Hinata continues and carefully brings the senbon forward until the tip is pressing against Naru-chan's scalp. Then slowly and gently she brings it down until the direction of the senbon is reserved. Then she pushes through the rest of the roll of hair. She gently releases it and smiles as the hair is held in place. She repeats the process with the second senbon only this time it's at the top left. The two senbon create a cross, also known as a saltire, holding the redheads long hair in place. The roll of hair is tightly secured above her shoulders and only bounces, never coming free. Hinata nods seeing that the senbon worked as intended. She had actually made her sister, mother, and even her father sit through her practicing so she could get it perfect for Naru-chan.

Naruko feeling Hina-chan finish with her hair stands and turns towards the other girl. "Thanks a lot for helping me out Hina-chan." Naruko had only manage to learn so much from that but she had learned how to make the roll, and with some practice she can get it down.

"So ready to go visit Ayame for your sash?" Naruko shakes her head no.

"I've gotta get dressed first Hina-chan."

Hinata hadn't been thinking about it but now that she's looking she realizes her girlfriend was only wearing a loose t-shirt, and short pajama shorts. Hinata can't help but look at her girlfriends thighs and nod appreciatively. The other girl trained her legs a lot and it showed. Naru-chan wasn't very top heavy, with a relatively small chest and otherwise thin frame, but she had a sturdy set of abs and a generally well sculpted body for her age. Of course there were other things that made her think Naru-chan wasn't very top heavy than just her strong thighs, her behind was definitely a treat to see. Really everytime they worked out Hinata felt like she was in for a treat. It sort of made her feel bad, treating Naru-chan like a piece of meat, especially since the girl likely didn't even realize, but she couldn't help how much raw appeal she saw in Naru-chan.

Hinata shakes herself from those thoughts and says "I'll let you change then." With that she steps out of the room. Hinata would love to see her girlfriend naked, she had fantasized about that image more than a few times, but she didn't want to push the girl. The other girl probably would be embarrassed but would say she doesn't mind. It was something Hinata had realized a few months into their relationship. Naru-chan didn't understand pacing, nor did she know how to properly express when something makes her uncomfortable, so it was up to Hinata to watch for the redheads reactions and try not push her out of her comfort zone. She loved the redhead and couldn't bring herself to abuse the redheads trust and naivety. It was for the same reason she never used her Byakugan to peak. She easily could, it was well within her ability. And even if she somehow did Naru-chan would forgive her. But that breached the trust they had and she refused to cross that line. So she resigned herself to her imagination.

* * *

Naruko stepped out a few minutes later, in her usual ensemble only with a spare sash on at the moment, this one is red. She'd switch it out once she got the black one with her forehead protector from Ayame-nee. She quickly heads into the kitchen and gets them both a quick breakfast. Naruko makes a few omelets and gets out some rice and chicken she made the night before. She took some time to make Hina-chan a few pieces of cinnamon toast, not having the time or skill yet to make the cinnamon rolls her girlfriend loves. The two girls eat the breakfast the redhead prepared and then set out for the Ichiraku house.

They arrive a few minutes later. With a few quick raps on the door they stand and wait. It only takes a few seconds for the door to fly open and for Naruko to be scooped up into a hug by the civilian girl. She had resigned herself by now to the fact that it seemed every girl in her life wanted to cuddle her. Well she enjoyed it with Hina-chan, but she sort of just dealt with it with Ayame and Hitomi.

"I said it yesterday and I'll say it again, I'm so proud of you!"Ayame tightened her grip, "You've come so far from the little girl with the dead look in her eyes. Now we just need to teach you some common sense, don't want _anyone_ taking advantage of you." Naruko could see the older girl was sending a message to Hina-chan. It was obvious given the glare she was sending her way. Ayame didn't seriously think of Hina-chan as a problem, but she felt like it was her right as an older sister figure to be protective. Or at least Naruko hoped that's the case, otherwise her older sister figure might seriously think she shouldn't be with Hina-chan and that would be terrible.

Naruko started trying to break free, Ayame's grip had gotten a little too tight for comfort. She weakly tried to kick but being as high of the ground as she was it did little. It's her own fault, she had chosen to leave her weights in storage seals today, just in case she needed them off for something, like if for example her sensei gave them a surprise test or something. If she had been wearing them the other girl wouldn't have been able to scoop her off the ground though.

* * *

Hinata watches amused, her mother did the same thing to Naru-chan a lot and unlike Ayame she was strong enough to do so even with the girls weights on. Naru-chan only hated it because she thinks it makes people think she needs protecting. Hinata still hadn't gotten it through to Naruko that it's okay for others to protect her just as she protects them. She had only grudgingly accept Hinata because she didn't want to insult the white eyed girl and her own effort to grow strong. She can also freely admit that Hinata is the better fighter of the two, even if the red head is the faster and physically stronger one.

Ayame finally lets Naruko go and gives her the finished sash. "Come on in, I'll help tie it around you." Naru-chan nods and is quickly shuffled inside by Ayame. Hinata follows after the two. Naru-chan unties the red sash she had brought from the house and ties the black sash, the sashes are also known as Obi, around her waist. Naruko heads back out and asks Hinata. "So how do I look?"

"Like a real ninja." Naruko smiles and nods.

"Great! Ready to head to the academy?" Hinata nods and Naru-chan turns towards Ayame, "I'll talk to you tonight Nee-chan" The civilian waves the two kunoichi off.

Hinata inhaled, this is where it really begun. She would grow much stronger much faster now, and she would ensure the clan can't do anything about her relationship. The elders can't complain if she is strong enough to take them on.

* * *

They arrived at the academy at ten til nine. Most of the other students had already arrived by then. The only two who seemed to be missing were Sakura and Ino. The two girls look around and spot four open seats. Two are right next to each other while the others are separated. They go for the two seats next to each other, they always tried to sit together (Normally they arrived earlier so it wasn't an issue). The only thing is the seats are also next to Sasuke and it's going to be annoying in a few minutes. Naruko takes the seat next to the Uchiha while Hina-chan takes the edge seat.

The two girls are proven right as their last two class mates come storming into the classroom. "Ha I was first! Take that Ino pig!" Naruko never could understand why Sakura called Ino a pig, the girl looked fairly normal, and Naruko had never heard her oink.

"Yeah right Forehead my foot was 1 centimeter ahead of yours so I was first!" Likewise Naruko never got the whole business about Sakura's forehead, it really did look pretty normal, if very slightly larger than average. She still thought it was a shame the two girls threw away their friendship. But maybe it was never really a friendship if it was thrown away so easily.

Naruko zones out for a bit only to be brought back to see Sakura standing beside her. "Move Naruko-baka! You're in my seat!" The pink haired girl moves to throw the redhead out of her seat but before her hand can even reach Naruko it's caught in a vice grip by Hina-chan.

"You wouldn't be trying to throw my girlfriend out of her seat, next to mine, when we got here first would you? Sakura-san." Sakura gulps and shakes her head no. She may be the rank two kunoichi in class but she knew how scary Hina-chan can be when people were insulting or harming Naruko, outside of spars. Hina-chan smiles and says, "Good then I hope you don't mind taking one of the empty seats." Sakura nods her head and retreats. Truth be told Naruko didn't hate Sakura like Hina-chan seemed to. The girl was violent and mean for sure, but Naruko had a suspicion she was also secretly lonely. She could see it in her eyes, it was all to familiar after all. Still she wasn't going to just accept the attempted violence, not like Hina-chan would let her either.

* * *

Sasuke may not care about the two girls to his right, but the fact that they just shielded him from the fan girls is enough to earn his silent thanks. Oh how he despises the fan girls. He would have had no problem if they truly liked him. But he wasn't stupid and the fact that they all seemed to take an interest when he became a vulnerable orphan, and received a large inheritance, had been sending alarm bells through his head for years. If he had to guess the only one that might really have an interest in him, that doesn't stem from his heritage, is Ino. And he's fairly certain that is more of a game to her then anything else. The girl may be weak but she was deceptively smart, and painfully good at gathering info and dispersing false info.

He may not care for the rumor mill, but the fact that she was the queen of it was not a mark against her. Information was everything to a ninja, and she was great at collecting true info and running counter intelligence. Information was needed for him to hunt down Itachi. He couldn't get his revenge if he couldn't find the man first. So he could respect her ability. It was a skill far more valuable than being able to recite the entirety of their text book. Of course it would be far more trouble than it's worth to admit as much.

He dragged his eye to the two girls at his table. Naruko and Hinata. He was annoyed that the Hyuuga took his place as rookie of the year, but she had a backing. He was confident that with the aid of a jonin he would catch up and soon surpass her. He also conceded that she was one of the students he requested to be put on his team. She was likely the only Kunoichi in the class who could keep up with him.

Naruko on the other hand was an interesting case. She was a good fighter, but not an excellent one. She was good at making traps, but not great. She had apparently studied genjutsu, but from what he understood she hadn't been seen doing one successfully. She seemed painfully average. He often wondered what drew Hinata to the redhead. Sure she was attractive, in fact he would go as far as to say she was the most attractive girl in class (not flinging herself at him or one upping him helped). But she was seemingly stupid if her academic grades were anything to go by and otherwise just very normal. It seemed odd for the normally cold Hyuuga heiress to be so taken with her. As far as he could tell the only truly unique thing about her was her physical strength. He had seen her performance in the gravity test and she had proven to have near inhuman strength and will. Maybe that was worth more than he gave credit for, but ultimately he didn't particularly care. Perhaps that was why Hinata was taken with her? She liked that raw physical strength and will. It didn't really matter, their relationship had no effect on his life.

* * *

Iruka-sensei walks into the room with a clipboard in hand. Most of the students quiet down seeing him. He nods at them in approval. "There's not much in the way of formalities. We have thirty students and ten teams. You'll be paired in teams of three genin and one jonin. But you all already know that. I'll be starting with team one and working up. . ." He starts to call names and Naruko only really listens for her name or Hina-chan's. She perks up when he gets to the seventh team. "Team 7 will be Hyuuga Hinata. . ." He pauses and Naruko crosses her fingers. "Uchiha Sasuke. . ." Naruko is crossing her fingers tighter praying she'll be on Hina-chan's team, "And Uzumaki Naruko." Naruko can't help herself as she moves to hug Hina-chan in excitement. It seems her girlfriend had the same thought as they met halfway. She ignored the cries of outrage from the other girls in the class. She was on the same team as Hina-chan! She did, however, notice the sigh of relief coming from Sasuke as he heard the names, seems he's as happy as the girls are upset about not being on a team with any of them.

"Iruka-sensei that's not fair! What if Sasuke-kun's amazingness makes them straight! Then they'll have them all to themselves." Naruko could practically feel the delusion radiating from the girl who said it. Sasuke didn't seem to be taking it seriously, instead looking like he wanted to die from how crazy the statement is.

"This was decided by the Hokage and several Elite Jonin as well as myself, if you really have a problem with the teams you can take it up with Hokage-sama." That was enough to shut them up, even as a few still grumbled at the unfairness of it all.

Hina-chan spoke up, "Well for what it's worth, I'm not gay because I haven't met a proper man yet, I'm gay because I like girls. So unless Sasuke is a girl in disguise then your crush is safe." Hina-chan got a lot of people talking down to her about her choice in dating. She was, after all, dating not just another girl but a 'demon' at that. It wasn't uncommon for a particularly brave civilian to say she was a demon fucker. Of course there were a lot who claimed Naruko used some kind of demon magic to brainwash Hinata into being her girlfriend. People were weird.

Iruka-sensei went back to reading off the teams. "Team 8 will be Inuzuka Kiba, Haruno Sakura, and Aburame Shino." Sakura cries out.

"You take me away from Sasuke-kun and stick me with dog boy and the creep?!" Naruko winces for Shino. He may not talk but he was really very kind, and Naruko was coming from a perspective where he actively avoids her. If she thought he was kind then there is no reason everyone else can't. He was quiet and certainly didn't seem appealing, but he was never once rude to anybody and had never done anything other than offer his assistance. He didn't deserve that stigma. Of course assigning unfair stigma was a facet of the will of fire.

Iruka-sensei seemed tired of the complaints. "Each team was carefully considered for maximum efficiency and I assure your team is as it should be. I thought that would be apparent when I mentioned the group of Elite Jonin that decided the team compositions." He continues naming three of the weirdly bland kids who seriously never managed to stop being bland for team 9. "Team 10 will be Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Choji, and Nara Shikamaru." He pauses for a moment before continuing, "Your jonin-sensei will be here in an hour to pick you up. I encourage you in the meantime to use this opportunity to bond with your new teammates. You'll be together for most of your career, so you might as well get along."

Iruka-sensei walks out of the room and Naruko stands along with Hina-chan. She turns to Sasuke and says. "Well want to come eat lunch with us?" Sasuke is about to reject but Hinata cuts in.

"If nothing else eating with us will protect you from your fans." That's enough for the boy and he nods. The three walk out of the room even as Sakura claims they are stealing her Sasuke-kun.

* * *

Hinata had to resist pouting. She had helped Naru-chan convince Sasuke because that's what her girlfriend wanted, but the white eyed girl would have preferred to have lunch with just Naru-chan. It's not like she disliked Sasuke, not since he lost his crush on her girl, but she wants to act lovey-dovey with her girlfriend and he kind of interrupts that. Oh well, it would be good if they could get along with him in the future. Iruka-sensei was right when he said they would be working together for the majority of their career and being friendly would certainly be better than being enemies. They move outside and sit around a large tree.

"So Sasuke, are you mad Hina-chan stole Rookie of the Year from you?"

"Naru-chan that's rude!" Hinata says in a scolding tone.

Sasuke didn't say much on it, but from what it seemed he didn't seem terribly upset. They had been tied for so long it really could have been either of them. Of course she would have been a little upset if he took it from her, so she supposed it would make sense for him to be upset too. She wouldn't blame him if he was. "Hn."

"You know I think that's the only thing I've heard you say in years."

"Naruko!" She loved Naru-chan dearly, but that was being just a bit to insensitive. She needed to explain the girl not to be so tactless about things like this.

* * *

"It's alright, it's kind of refreshing." He meant it too, everyone else in the class would be trying to suck up to him right now. Or boldly claiming they'd kick his ass. Most couldn't backup that claim making the fights boring and worthless. These two were treating him normally. It felt kind of nice. It was clear they cared for each other dearly, he guessed he could see why they're together (if only barely).

"See Hina-chan it's fine."

"Naru-chan it's fine to be blunt, it's part of what I love about you, but there is no reason to bring up painful memories." Naruko nods conceding the point.

"Sorry Sasuke didn't think about that." These two are really different when they are not with the rest of the class, they're much more expressive and open. And talkative. He must have been making a weird expression because Hinata laughed at him upon looking at his face.

"What did you think we only spend our time together plotting how to give Kiba a beating in the sparring ring?" Sasuke had to acknowledge that, it would make sense that the girls would normally just well act, well, normal.

"So do you still like tomatoes? Cause it looks like my gardens going to get a big harvest this year and I'll probably have more than I can eat." He blinked at the question. No one had asked about what he used to like in years.

"I didn't know you garden. And yeah I still like tomatoes."

"Yeah I've turned my whole balcony into a garden," Huh, he wouldn't have taken her for the type, but as it turns out even someone who seems pretty average can be full of surprises. It wasn't bad, getting to see a new side of his classmates. "So if you want any just stop by sometime and I'll give you some." Sasuke nods, not really planning on it, having more important things to do, like training, or thinking up ways to kill Itachi, but he might stop by for fresh tomatoes sometimes if he gets in the mood and doesn't want to go shopping.

"Naru-chan are you inviting a boy to your apartment when I, your girlfriend, am right here?" Hinata's tone is one of mock hurt. Sasuke practically choked when she said that. He was not ready to be apart of their relationship banter.

Naruko doesn't pick up on it. "I'm sorry Hina-chan I hadn't thought about that, you know I only have eyes for you. Sorry Sasuke deals off."

She's whipped, there was no doubt in his mind after seeing that exchange. Hinata laughs and says, "It's alright Naru-chan I was only kidding. Guess we still need to work on your ability to recognize what different tones of voice mean."

* * *

"Hey I can pick up on most of them, like anger, sadness or happiness. Oh and the one where you want to kiss me more! I'm just not to good with sarcasm, that's what that was right? Some form of sarcasm?" Hinata nods, blushing a bit at the mention of the kissing one. When had Naru-chan learned what she sounded like when she was. . . Getting into it.

"So does that mean the offer for the tomatoes still stands?" The two girls look at each other and laugh. They hadn't expected him to actually care.

"Sure Sasuke I don't mind and Naru-chan doesn't mind." She says that with a certain look in her eye. One that said "If you make moves on my girlfriend I will end you." She smiled as he nodded his head. Good, he knows that making any moves will earn him far more trouble than it's worth. She didn't think he would, but it's better he knows just to be sure.

* * *

The three of them had fallen into idle chatter. He had been occasionally giving his input. It was nice, they brought him into the conversation but didn't force him to stay longer than he liked. Slowly his thoughts drifted to Iruka-sensei's speech from yesterday. About why they became ninjas. His reasons had changed from the time he entered the Academy, going from trying to make his family proud to trying to earn his revenge and revive his clan. Six years ago it was inconceivable that he would be driven by a need to kill his brother.

"Hinata, why did you become a ninja?"

"To lead the clan and to protect Naru-chan. She is the main source of my strength and my drive." Her tone was surprisingly serious. He nodded her goal hadn't changed in the six years they've been classmates. If he had to guess it would remain her goal for the rest of her life. He could respect the drive it gave her.

"And what about you Naruko?"

"Originally it was just because Hina-chan was going to be a ninja. Now it's because I want to protect Hina-chan and myself. What about you Sasuke? Why did you become a ninja?" She had changed like him then. Not for the same reasons or to a similar goal, but she had changed too. He supposed that was something worth respecting, finding a reason to push forward when previously she had none.

"Originally it was to be like that man." He could tell from their expressions that they knew he was referring to his brother. He was silently thankful that they didn't ask. "Now it's so I can get my revenge."

"Then we'll help you with it." The red head says smiling at him.

"What?"

Hinata speaks this time. "We're teammates now, Naru-chan and I have gotten revenge in many forms against those who hurt her, so I don't see a problem with helping you do the same." Naruko nods agreeing with the other girl.

Sasuke doesn't respond, he had never considered help. If nothing else Hinata had gotten stronger than him with the aid of a friend and a drive for revenge (and protection, but that's less important to him), at least that what it seemed like to him. So maybe it has some merit. Well he has something to think on now.

* * *

The three eat their lunches in relative silence, with the occasional chatter between the two girls. They soon finish and head back inside to wait out the last five minutes for their new sensei to arrive. Truth be told lunch had been nice. Sasuke wasn't actually the brooding jerk he seemed to be. Naruko had a suspicion that it was more a result of people annoying him. The three sit together again, not seeing a point in separating, not that she and Hina-chan would have anyways.

Five minutes later 7 jonin walk into the room and call for teams 1-6 and team 9. Naruko finds it amusing that all the bland kids got taken out first. It's about 10 minutes after that another three jonin walk in. The first is a bearded man with a cigarette in his mouth. He seems to have a lazy attitude about him and had somewhat of a resemblance to the Hokage, though his skin was more olive than the old man. He wore the standard jonin vest and had two trench knives strapped to each leg. He wore the black variant of the ninja uniform underneath. He also had a sash with the kanji for fire around his hips. The man certainly carried himself like he was powerful. Despite the lazy attitude there was a sharp look in his eye that just screamed danger. Naruko couldn't help but feel that he would easily be able to take on all of the seven previous jonin, at the same time.

Just behind him was a stern looking man with one eye. He had his forehead protector covering the other. He had gravity defying silver hair and pale skin, from what little he showed. He also wore the standard jonin vest but had the Navy blue variant of the ninja uniform. Lastly he wore a mask that when combined with his forehead protector covered about 75% of his face. Naruko realizes he's the man who had been giving her a clock on her birthday every year since she was five. Naruko wondered just why he bothered to give her presents, he never did anything else in her life and the only conversation she ever had with the man was about how it's important to always try and be on time or early if possible. Speaking of wasn't he late? Or maybe this group of jonin were supposed to arrive second? Naruko didn't know. Much like the other man he had that same air and look of danger. The man wasn't overtly carrying anything dangerous. He seemed to just have standard equipment but she was just as certain that he was powerful.

Lastly a woman with long black hair and crimson red eyes walked in. The woman's eyes sent a pang of nostalgia through Naruko, but she wasn't sure why. The woman had pale skin and didn't seem to be carrying any weapons, but she likely had some hidden on her. She wore an odd dress that looked to be made of bandages with thorny vines patterned on them, but upon closer inspection the bandages were something different. Underneath she could see a small amount of mesh and cloth that seemed to also work as added clothes, acting as a sleeve for the dress, much like Naruko's kimono (the other name for her dress), now that she thinks about it. She completed this newly formed trinity of dangerous looking jonin. She had that same aura of danger that made her sort of want to run away. What Naruko found much more interesting was that she sort of felt safe near the woman. It was a strange paradox, like the woman was incredibly dangerous, but she would protect her despite that.

"You nine are the lucky ones." It was the tan man who spoke up.

"Or the unlucky ones depending on how you look at it." It was the woman who spoke this time.

"We're the three elite jonin who signed up to be sensei this year." This time it was the one eyed man.

The tan man speaks again, "Which means you nine, as the only ones left, get us as your sensei. And all the benefits that come with. Now then Team 10 you're with me." He walks out of the room, they would have to follow on their own. The trio of childhood friends quickly exit the room in a hurry after him. Well Ino does while dragging Shikamaru who doesn't seem to care.

The man with a spike of silver hair speaks next, "Team 8 you're with me, you have five minutes to get to the roof, if you're late by a single second you'll all be punished." The man disappears in a poof of smoke. The team scrambles after the man not eager to find out their punishment for being late. Well that was inline with what Naruko knew of the man, he was all about punctuality it would seem. He may not be wearing his ANBU mask but hair like that was fairly identifiable.

The woman speaks to the three remaining kids. "Well I guess we can stay right here, I'm going to be the sensei of Team 7. So why don't you introduce yourselves to me. Just state what you like and dislike, along with your hopes for the future. I don't need a report on your skills, I'll be testing that later. Oh and I guess you should state your name, just because I feel like it." Something told Naruko that the woman already knew who they were and their skills. Iruka-sensei had said earlier that the Elite jonin had designed the teams right? So clearly the woman must have some idea. Sasuke took the initiative and went first.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I like tomatoes, and I dislike most other things, I will kill a certain man and restore my clan." They had heard it earlier so it was nothing new to Naruko. She did mean it when she offered her help. They were teammates and could be friends, and friends help each other.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruko and I love Hina-chan and ramen, I also like gardening and rabbits." She had never understood the fondness for rabbits but she just couldn't help it. "I don't like people who hurt me, or mock my relationship with Hina-chan, I also don't like it when my forehead is covered. I want to be able to protect Hina-chan and one day make her my wife!" Hinata speaks up after that.

"I'm not going to be your wife, you're going to be mine."

"What's the difference?"

"You'll marry into my family and not the other way around."

"But what if I want to restart the Uzumaki clan?"

"We're both girls, we can't have kids together. I know you know that, and do you really care about restarting the clan?"

"Not really, but I still don't get why you can't be my wife while I'm yours."

"Think about it this way, when we get married someday I'm going to fill the role a husband would traditionally fulfill."

"Do you want me to be a housewife? Or is this a subtle way to try and tell me you wish you were born a man?"

"You're cooking is great and while I think I would love to always have you around the house, you would go stir crazy if you had to be in the house most the day. I'm going to make you my wife and I'll fulfill the role expected of a husband but you're already weird so you can be my weird wife. And no I'm perfectly happy being a woman." Naruko nods accepting that answer.

"You do realize you're just as weird as me if not more so, so I think we'd have a weird marriage too." Naruko didn't really understand but if Hina-chan wanted her to be the wife then she would be the wife. Their sensei gave them a look and Hina-chan introduced herself.

"Oh right, well I'm Hyuuga Hinata and I like my family, flower pressing and flower arrangement, along cinnamon buns. I love Naru-chan the most. I don't like people who mock Naru-chan or our relationship, nor do I like my families caged bird seal. I'm going to be head of the Hyuuga clan and as stated earlier I'm going to take Naru-chan as my wife."

The jonin speaks up, "I don't really mind but aren't you two a little young to be thinking about marriage?"

"Not really, according to Kaa-chan she had thought about marrying Otou-sama only a month into dating, even if it actually took them five years to get married. Just because we're thinking about it and talk to each other about it doesn't mean we're going to go turn in the form right this instant." Naruko nods and adds.

"Not to mention we are legally adults now and could get married if we so chose, and we love each other. So is it really that weird to think about it?"

The older woman speaks up. "No I guess not when you put it like that, I was really more curious to see how you'd defend yourselves. Most young couples in love simply say they will never break up and that it's meant to be."

Sasuke finally speaks again, bored by the conversation about his teammates relationship, and says. "Sensei you never introduced yourself to us."

"Oh I'm aware I was just waiting to see if any of you would ask. I'm Yuuhi Kurenai, I'm an Elite Jonin. I enjoy spending time with my friends and practicing Genjutsu." Naruko's got excited at that. She had made little progress in Genjutsu so having an Elite Jonin who is presumably skilled in it would be a massive help. "I dislike shinobi who look down on women and homophobes."

"Oh sensei are you gay too?" It was Hinata who spoke up here.

"No but one my closest friends is dating my best friend and both are women. Fortunately it's not an issue in most shinobi villages and in some capitals, but outside the village you two will find a lot more resistance to your relationship, as do most shinobi and gay people unfortunately." Having answered the question she continues. "I've already accomplished my goal in becoming an Elite Jonin so my current hope for the future is to turn you three into formidable ninja and an unstoppable team."

Sasuke speaks next. "It never really got explained in the academy. What exactly are the requirements to becoming an Elite Jonin?"

Naruko had a decent understanding of how Konoha ranks its ninja. Obviously the lowest are Academy Students, followed by Genin, then Chunin, then Tokubetsu Jonin (this is also where most ANBU are in terms of strength), then Jonin, then Elite Jonin, and then of course there is the Hokage. But she was also unsure of the exact requirements to move from Jonin to Elite Jonin. "An Elite Jonin must have at least Jonin level proficiency in six ninja arts, three of which must be the three core ninja arts. Beyond all that they must also have an S-rank mastery in at least one ninja art of their choosing. Alternatively they drop two non core ninja arts or one core ninja art for every ninja art they are S-rank in beyond the first. Although there is only one Elite Jonin in Konoha who meets that criteria. Generally an Elite Jonin ranges in strength from high A-rank to anywhere in the S-ranks."

Naruko couldn't help but ask, "So what are you S-ranked in? And what about your other three ninja arts?" She hoped it was Genjutsu, given that the other the woman had said she liked to practice it, but Naruko acknowledged it could jut be a hobby.

Kurenai chuckles and says, "That's something I'm not going to tell you yet. Because you three, are not really genin yet."

"So there is some kind of extra test then?"

"Exactly right Hinata, I'm going to test you three tomorrow to see if you are worthy of being trained by me. If you fail you three will be sent to the reserves and will be forever locked out of becoming jonin, and will only be allowed to reach the rank of chunin through field promotion. And if you really fail I might just kick you out of the program." Naruko doubted they would be barred from being ninja. There would be massive political fallout if that happened to Hina-chan as the heiress of the Hyuuga clan and she doubted Konoha would let go of the last Uchiha that easily either. There could be a small chance that she would be kicked, but it seemed unlikely given that the Hokage had tried hard to convince her to be a ninja and to aim for Hokage. He wanted her to be a ninja, she doubted she had a choice really.

"When will we be meeting tomorrow?" The raven haired boy asks.

"Be at training ground 14 at 8am if any of you are late by even a minute you will all fail. Konoha does not need ninja who are incapable of arriving on time. I'd recommend you don't eat tomorrow, wouldn't want you to throw up." And with that the woman was gone.

"We're eating right?" Hina-chan didn't need to ask but Naruko knew it wasn't truly directed at her.

"Oh yeah for sure." Naruko had starved once and she never wanted to do anything resembling it again. It's part of the reason she learned to cook. Not because she's apparently going to become Hinata's wife (she still doesn't see why the way they say it matters), but because after having had to eat trash at one point just to survive and going days without food as well, she would go out of her way to make sure she eats things that taste better regularly.

* * *

"Didn't Kurenai-sensei just tell us not to eat?"

"No she recommended it, she had intentionally been dropping hints that entire conversation about what to expect. Iruka did too." The white eyed girl had picked up on a few things.

"Like what?"

"She already told us her S-rank specialty is Genjutsu, by saying she likes practicing it in particular. Iruka had told us genin teams are always made of three genin and one jonin, and when Kurenai said we would all fail if one of us is late she reaffirmed that. Whatever it is we either all pass or all fail. She also stated her goal is to make us formidable ninja which implies she wants us to pass so she can train us." Well she didn't have absolute proof, but they're ninja they had to work off assumptions all the time.

"She also gave us ammo to distract her with."

"What do you mean Naru-chan?"

"She said she dislikes homophobes and sexists right? Well what if we have Sasuke just act like he's both. If we all pass or fail together then the test will require teamwork right? Not to mention she said she wants to make us stronger as a team than we would be individually" That's why she said unstoppable as a team and formidable alone, she can see where she's coming from now. "So we'll likely be fighting her to some effect, she had intentionally left out most her skills so she can surprise us with them. So I figure if we have Sasuke bait out a negative reaction we could sneak attack her while she's distracted."

Sasuke speaks up now. "She also told us the training ground and then left before it's even noon. We could likely have tested today, it's not like we did anything strenuous so it's likely a chance for us to set up traps in the training ground." The two girls nod at his logic. Then they all smile, a plans coming together.

* * *

Kurenai was impressed, she hadn't moved from her spot, merely casting an invisibility Genjutsu to make it seem like she left quickly. The kids easily worked out a lot of what the conversation had hidden within. Of course she'd have to teach them to scan their surroundings first before talking about their plans, they have a Byakugan user right there and didn't even think to check, but that can be forgiven. They are still inexperienced genin, and haven't had time to learn that lesson yet. Hopefully she can drill it into their heads before they have to learn it the hard way.

If their showing tomorrow is even half as good as this though she's confident they'll pass with flying colors. She smiles as the three kids leave to go set their traps. She'd let them set them up without her spying. If only to positively reinforce the good thinking. If she knew where all of them were it might send the message that traps and preparation isn't useful.

.

.

.

She was glad the Hokage kept his promise.

It had been painful, being separated from Naruko all those years ago. The girl was her little sister in all but blood and being forced to give her up to an orphanage that abused her. She knew full well about the time she spent on the street. It's only because of the Hokage's direct orders that she didn't break her deal and go back to caring for the girl (of course by the time she found out the girl was already living in an apartment).

She had worked so hard. Going from a mere chunin to one of the most powerful ninja in Konoha and the most powerful Kunoichi actively serving. She had gone on mission after mission running herself nearly ragged but it was worth it. Naruko may not remember her, but she had managed to reunite them. She could once more take part in the girls life.

And what a life she had. She was happy to see how much the girl seemed to be enjoying her life now. She wasn't entirely sure about Hyuuga Hinata but the girl clearly made her little sister happy. She was somewhat worried about the Hyuuga clan trying to do something, they weren't exactly well known for their kind attitude towards outsiders.

Well she would deal with that when the time comes, for now she wanted to go home and mentally prepare herself. She would truly be seeing just how far the girl had come tomorrow.

* * *

Hinata stretched her hand out. It had started to cramp a bit from trying to make not one but three detailed maps of their training ground. Each member of team 7 would get one and on said map was the locations of all of their traps. It was their individual jobs to memorize the maps tonight so they don't get caught in their own trap, and so that they know where to potentially bait Kurenai-sensei into following after them, assuming the woman would be going on the offensive at any point.

"We're going to head to Ichiraku Ramen to celebrate graduating. If you want to come with us you can." Naru-chan says while looking at Sasuke. Hinata really hoped the boy said no. She didn't hate him, he had been polite enough with them and hadn't acted arrogant or stupid, so she certainly had no problem with him as a teammate. Hell she specifically requested that he be put on the team when they were signing up. But she knew Naru-chan actually wanted to be his friend, and that meant dedicating time that would have otherwise been reserved for Hinata. She missed her alone time with her girlfriend already.

"Maybe some other time." She wondered if he just wanted to get some space or if he had picked up on her internal pleas. Realistically it was probably the former.

She and Naru-chan nod and wave the boy off. Hinata watched him like a hawk as he slowly left the training ground. Satisfied with him out of sight she practically jumped Naru-chan. She needed a taste of those soft lips.

She didn't give Naru-chan a chance to question why she had been glomped before Hinata had taken her lips with her own in a searing kiss. She quickly snaked her arms around the smaller girl and pulled her in close. She can feel Naru-chan get on her toes making it easier for them. The redheads arms wrap around her neck and Hinata decides to take it further pressing against Naru-chan's lips with her tongue. The girl acquiesces quickly and she quickly reenacts the kiss from last night. Hinata keeps the kiss going for what feels like ages before she finally breaks away, panting.

"What brought that on?"

"Do I need a reason to kiss you?"

"No not really, but you typically build it up more." Hinata tended to add more drama to the kisses, leaning in first and feeling the other girls breath on her lips as they would near each other, she liked to think it made it more romantic. Of course when she had been deprived as she had been today, she felt it was justified in her haste. Of course looking at the red tinting her girlfriends cheeks she thinks it was worth it.

"You ready to head out?"

"Almost." Naru-chan stood on her toes again and initiates a kiss this time, it's short and sweet. "I love ramen but personally I like your lips better when they taste like cinnamon." Hinata felt the heat rise to her cheeks. She was sure she was as red as Naru-chan's hair. Every time her redheaded lover complimented her it felt like one more reason to pile on why she loves the girl so much. "Now we can go."

With that the two girls link hands and leave the training field making their way towards the ramen stand. Naru-chan is humming happily as she gently swings their hands back and forth. Hinata can't help but smile. She loved seeing the girl happy and nothing seemed to make her happier than going to Ichiraku Ramen with her.

Her thoughts turn sour as she thinks about the ramen stand. Not because the owners were at fault. Not really. The villagers at large knew they helped Naru-chan and went out of their way to make sure the stand got as little business as possible. They only managed to get by as a result of her father having learned what was going on. He gave her a small fund to always finance her girlfriends meals there. So every time they went they almost always cleared out their stock. Leaving just enough to ensure they can serve whatever other customers might show up, which is typically not many. Everyone benefited really. Naru-chan got to have a buffet every now and then. The Ichiraku got to stay in business without compromising their values. Hinata got to make sure her girlfriend was fed and got to see her adorable look of happiness. And her father got to protect old friends without making it seem like charity and he got to make her and naru-chan happy.

The elders of the clan didn't really care about the expenditures on the heiress as she had proven her ability, some had even claimed her a prodigy on the level of Uchiha Itachi or Hatake Kakashi. Hinata knew she was no prodigy, she just had a drive and couldn't allow herself to be weak, or Naru-chan would be the one to suffer. She had to be strong so that they could always be together, and she had to be strong so no one could hurt her girlfriend. She didn't care about being strong for herself, her sole purpose was to ensure that Naru-chan was happy, safe, _and _Healthy.

They arrived at the stand about twenty minutes later, having chosen to walk at a leisurely pace. Upon lifting the flaps and stepping in they are immediately greeted by the words. "Tou-chan, Naruko and Hinata are here!"

A laugh from inside calls back followed by the words. "One of everything comin' up, along with two extra bowls of miso ramen!" They had promised Naruko a feast for graduating and that's what they were going to give her. The red heads eyes were practically sparkling in excitement at the mention of all the delicious food she was going to get, it brought a smile to Hinata's lips, it was moments like this where she knew Naru-chan was truly happy. The three girls chat about their day for a few minutes before Teuchi calls out "Order up!" Ayame- steps into the stands small kitchen, which is hidden behind another wall so it's out of view of customers, they claim it's to protect their secret techniques. Hinata wasn't sure who would want to steal ramen recipes. Ayame comes out with two steaming bowls of ramen, she sets one down in front of each girl. Before heading back in and coming back with another two bowls, placing both in front of Naru-chan. If the girls eyes were sparkling before then they were absolutely shining now. One day she would make sure Naru-chan could always shine so bright.

The two girls say "Itadakimasu." and begin to eat. Well Hinata eats, Naru-chan inhales the food but that's the whole reason they're here. To give Naru-chan a treat. While they eat Ayame asks.

"So how did your team assignments go?"

"I got paired with Hina-chan!"

"Naru-chan, chew and swallow first then answer."

The red head does so this time before responding. "My bad Hina-chan. Oh and Nee-chan our third teammate is Uchiha Sasuke."

Ayame winces and asks, "I've seen his fan girls, he's gotta be quite the brat right?" Hinata knew the older girls opinion on Sasuke. She had said on multiple occasions that anyone who has that many fans for doing nothing can't be anything but trouble.

"He's actually not that bad, just a bit reclusive." The white eyed girl meant it, he had actually been quite pleasant, he was likely the best option they had, truth be told. She really didn't regret requesting him, even if the request wasn't the reason the three of them were paired together.

"Oh well that's good, I'm glad you didn't get anyone you dislike."

"Oh Nee-chan can you make something clear for me?"

"Maybe depends on what it is."

"How does it make a difference if I'm Hina-chan's wife or if she's mine?" Ayame looked at the white eyed girl and raised an eyebrow. She clearly understood the implication Hinata had been going for. Of course as much as she loves Naru-chan she knows the girl will never be one to pick up on subtlety on the first pass, or second, or third. She would get it eventually, probably in a few months when something else helps it click. Ayame clearly seemed to be questioning her reasons when she knew the exact same thing Hinata had just outlined.

"It means she wants to make it clear she's wearing the pants in the relationship."

"Well of course she's wearing pants, she doesn't like combat dresses." Hinata giggled. Of course Naru-chan didn't understand that either.

"No you misunderstand, its a metaphor."

"Oh, well what does it mean?"

"You're a little to young for me to tell you that, ask again when you're sixteen."

"Oh come on Nee-chan it can't be that bad." The two girls in the know smile. Of course it's not that bad, but Hinata wasn't about to explain it yet (it was more fun this way) and Ayame had already reconciled the fact that things pertaining to the relationship were first explained by her and then clarified by them if needed. Or at least Hinata hoped the older girl had, otherwise she might be silently outraged by Hinata's behavior, but that seemed unlikely. The Ichirakus weren't the passive aggressive types, they were blunt as they come.

Teuchi walks out with bowls of ramen in each hand and gives them to Naru-chan. "You wouldn't plan on marrying our Naruko without my permission would you?" He asks menacingly. Hinata shakes her head no and answers quickly."

"Of course not you would be the second person I ask." Naru-chan would obviously be the first. Hinata may not truly be afraid of the man, but he saw Naru-chan as his second daughter and was as protective as one might expect. And she didn't want to anger the man because she knew it would hurt the redhead if two of her favorite people were fighting. Plus he seemed to like it when she played up the whole 'scared of the protective father' bit, so she figured there was no harm in doing so. Truth be told Hinata suspects he knows that she isn't really afraid, but for whatever reason he never commented and she never asks. Of course acknowledging that they're playing the game ruins the game, so neither would if they didn't have to. Teuchi nods his head in approval and returns to the kitchen, there was still more ramen to make.

After that the four fall into a comfortable conversation while the Ichiraku family continues to make Naru-chan ramen. The white eyed girl moves to pay as Naru-chan finally finishes her last bowl and Teuchi shakes his head. "No this was our gift to you and Naruko. You don't owe us anything." Hinata tries to protest, this would be a huge loss for the family if they didn't pay, but the man stops her before she can. "Don't worry, we didn't use any of our normal stock for this, we bought a separate stock for just today and just for her. We've been putting money away for this for a while now."

Hinata nods not willing to push harder, it would be disrespectful to Teuchi's generosity. She settles for giving a small bow and saying. "Thank you for taking care of her all these years."

"You have nothing to thank me for, I was just doing what any good cook would do when he sees a starving girl."

"No! You took it farther, you protected her when I was unable to, you gave her a shelter, and you made her feel like she has a family. For that you will always have our gratitude." Hinata saw Naru-chan join her in bowing just a moment later. Hinata knew full well that the girl loved the family to death, she would wager that she herself was the only person Naruko cared for more in the whole village.

"Yeah Ojisan! If not for you and Nee-chan then I would have starved to death. You gave me a chance to live my life." Naru-chan lifted her head and flashed the family a smile, Hinata couldn't help herself as she smiled along, it was infectious.

"Get out and go have enjoy the rest of your night, you brats." The girls do just that, knowing he didn't want to be seen getting emotional.

* * *

"Are you alright Tou-chan?" Ayame asks in concern, she had only seen her dad tear up like this a few times in her life. The first was when he got the news Minato-san and Kushina-san died. She had been five at the time so she only barely remembered them but they had always been kind to her. They also seemed to be long time friends and customers of her dad. The only other time was when her Kaa-chan died, but she had been crying herself she could only barely remember his tears.

His voice was barely above a whisper as he says. "Minato, Kushina, are you watching over her? She's come so far. Your little girl you were gonna love to death is growing up. God I wish you were here to give her the family she deserves. I should have never had to find her starving." That was it, he broke out into full blown tears. "Ayame. . . Close the shop, we're done today." He couldn't work like this.

"Okay Tou-chan, take it easy alright?"

"Alright."

* * *

The three genin had arrived at training ground 14 at 6 am. Naruko brought breakfast for all of them. It was simply a banana for each of them, a few oranges and apples. More leftover rice and chicken. Along with a Tomato for Sasuke, cinnamon toast for Hina-chan, and a few homemade dumplings for herself. They're not as good as ramen but they're her second favorite food and can be made healthier without ruining the taste. She tried adding strawberries to ramen once, it was a terrible mistake.

After eating breakfast they reviewed their plan. They had all memorized the map of traps as promised. While discussing Hina-chan was helping Naruko put her hair up again. Sasuke seemed a bit confused but didn't question it. The two girls continued as if Hina-chan wasn't fiddling with her hair at all.

The plan was fairly simple, the girls would charge together against Kurenai-sensei and would likely be defeated in some facet. Sasuke would intentionally insult them, specifically being discriminatory about their sexuality and gender. He would then boldly proclaim real ninja should learn to hide and then he would dash into the forest. If all goes according to plan Kurenai would chase after him seeing as the other two would be defeated. Then the girls will follow her into the forest using Hinata's Byakugan to track them. The two would sneak attack the woman when the time was right.

"This plan seems a little unfair."

"How so Sasuke?" Hina-chan asked.

"If she gets really angry you're not going to be the ones it's directed at."

"Don't worry, if she really seems like she's going to hurt you we'll just admit the plan." Naruko nodded, that seemed fair enough. The plan wasn't worth risking their teammate. "But that's only if it seems like she's actually going to flay you. We would never want to admit something like that in a real encounter and I feel like Kurenai-sensei would judge us poorly if we did at the drop of a hat."

"Alright, I guess I can see your point." He still didn't seem thrilled, but he had said he would do it and Naruko could only trust that he would stick to his word. It benefited him just as much if the plan worked after all.

They had finished reviewing and revising the plan faster than expected so the trio decided to use the remaining time to train together. It didn't matter if they knew what the others could do if they didn't know exactly how fast and how consistently they could. For example she needed to give Sasuke a feel for how long it took her to take off her weights in a pinch, so that he could adapt to distracting an enemy for that long or longer. The list goes on.

Of course who knows, maybe Kurenai wasn't going to give them a practical test that involved fighting her, it was a real possibility that they spent that time doing prep work for nothing. Well it wouldn't truly be nothing, they had worked together and gotten to familiarize themselves with Sasuke's abilities and he had with theirs.

* * *

Kurenai arrived in the clearing with a puff of smoke. She quickly spotted the three kids and nods. "Good you all arrived early. I hadn't said it but this is something you should always try and keep in mind. If you aren't early then you're late." Of course she wouldn't have failed them if one of them arrived on time. That was personal belief and not a requirement for genin to pass, so it would have been unfair to test them on her beliefs when they didn't even know.

"Now then as for your test, you will have three hours to attempt capture me." She pulls out a glass ball from a storage scroll she had hidden on her. And drops it onto the ground, it shatters on impact. She then pulls out two identical balls from the same storage scroll. "As you can see these are extremely fragile, and I'm extremely clumsy. I have one more on my person. One of you will pass for each intact ball. Don't worry I won't intentionally break the balls to spite you, I'll try and protect them. But if you are reckless in fighting me then they will break. I'd recommend coming at me with the intent to kill. Begin." She would more or less be juggling these the entire time she was fighting the genin, assuming she at any point needed to use her hands against them.

Naruko and Hinata charge her quickly with the redhead moving faster and going for a drop kick. The woman simply side steps only to be met with a Jyuken strike aimed for her heart. She quickly tosses one of the balls in the air and grabs Hinata's wrist and throws her into Naruko. Good these kids were at least taking this seriously, she absentmindedly catches the ball. Naruko ducks underneath Hinata and dashes forward once more throwing a right hook at her. She moves to block the strike, but it was a feint as Naruko was really aiming to kick her in the side. Kurenai once more tosses another ball in the air as she grabs Naruko's wrist while lifting her own leg high and blocking the smaller girls kick with her shin. She had to admit it stung a bit, but nothing she hasn't faced before. The girl was definitely wearing weights. Kurenai had sparred with Gai enough time to know what a kick with weights felt like and this matched the feeling perfectly, albeit it held much less impact.

Naruko grabs onto Kurenai's wrist seeing the opportunity to grapple her. Hinata having recovered rushes forward and aims a Jyuken strike at the hand holding Naruko's wrist, Byakugan blazing angrily. Kurenai twists it snapping the wrist and making the girl eat the Jyuken strike. Naruko cries out in pain. Hinata looks at her in anger. The ball descends and Kurenai tosses her other ball up in the air to replace it with the old one.

"What? I told you to come at me with the intent to kill and you thought I wouldn't be willing to hurt you in return?" Hinata screams in rage and tries futilely to attack Kurenai. The woman throws the ball up and uses both hands to deflect Hinata's wild strikes. "You're too prone to anger, your concern for the demon blinds you. If you just cut your ties to her you could go much farther as a ninja." Hinata puts all her weight into a strike, only for Kurenai to easily sidestep the sloppy punch. She grabs Hinata by the back of her head and slams her into the ground face first. If the crunch is anything to go by she broke the girls nose. "The Jyuken requires the user to always keep their cool, it only works when you can calmly assess the body of the enemy and see what they are planning based on their chakra flow. You threw that away when you became enraged over that monster." She stuck a hand out and caught the other ball.

"God I can't believe I lost the Rookie of the Year spot to a weakling like you. I guess I shouldn't have expected anything better from a woman." Kurenai looked at him from the corner of her eye. He was either stupid or brave, possibly both.

"I'd watch yourself Uchiha, I won't hesitate to break your jaw."

"Please like a weak whore like you could beat the might of the Uchiha. You'd be better off if you just spread your legs so I could get started on rebuilding the clan."

"Ah I see you wish to be castrated instead."

"What afraid of a strong man, to tell you how you should act? I know your friends have an aversion to cock but I guess you d-" He's interrupted as a pale leg finds itself embedded in his sternum. He rockets back into the forest coughing up blood in the process.

"You wanted to know my three extra skills? I'll show you them first hand." She tosses a ball in the air and bites her thumb and wipes it along the vines of one of her bandages. It's revealed to be a sealing scroll as a sword pops out. "I'm fairly well versed in the use of Kenjutsu, you'll see first hand when I gut you." She walks into the forest after him, calmly juggling the two balls as she walks. She clearly needed to teach this kid what it means to know when not to run his mouth. She briefly wondered how many fingers were to many to cut off. She smiled, she had to get in that mindset if this is what they planned, it was a good chance to teach them how plans can go horribly wrong.

* * *

"You okay Naru-chan?"

"Yeah, just a broken wrist, how about you?"

"She broke my nose. I think our plan worked a little too well."

"I hope she doesn't hurt Sasuke too badly."

"It will probably be fine."

"All I can do is apply a healing salve to your wrist, it won't do much but it should ease the pain." Naruko nods and let's the other girl do so. In the mean time she sits in the lotus position, planning on using her nature transformation (that's what she and Hina-chan had taken to calling it having no better name for what she was doing). Apparently her whole body underwent a transformation she had been unaware of when she used it. She stills her breathing and body. She opens her eyes a few moments later, she felt like it's working, but she had no visible way to tell. Hina-chan looked at her and said.

"You're going all out then?" Good it worked.

"Yeah, lets go quickly and help Sasuke."

The two girls quickly head into the forest with Naruko in the lead, Hina-chan is scanning their surroundings constantly with her Byakugan. They find Kurenai-sensei just as she stabs her sword through the Uchiha's hand, pinning him to the ground. Naruko winces along with the boy as she sees it happen. She had taken to long to use her transformation. She needs to get faster so something like this doesn't happen again in the future. Kurenai-sensei's voice sent shivers up her spine as she spoke down to Sasuke.

"You're out of luck Uchiha, the moment you got stabbed by my sword it was game over for your clan of thieves. My second skill is in the use of poisons and this blade is coated in one made just for you and other misogynists. It will render you impotent by causing necrosis in your testicles. In other words by the end of the day your balls will have rotted off." Naruko didn't let the woman continue, she jetted forward and lashed out with a kick towards the woman's side. Kurenai-sensei managed to dodge it, but oddly it seemed like she still reacted as though she got hit, albeit only barely. Naruko hastily grabbed the ball as that she had been juggling, needed to keep these from breaking right? At the same time Hina-chan activated one of the traps and a volley of kunai are launched at the woman. She easily dodges only to find she landed on a false covering for the ground. She begins to fall into a pit they had dug. Inside were razor sharp spikes that could easily kill the woman from this height. Kurenai-sensei dropped the other ball and managed to stick to the wall using her chakra. The woman quickly flipped over onto the ground. Naruko winced as the ball shattered, she already knew it was a teamwork test, but still maybe letting them break was a bad thing.

Sasuke gave her no time to recover as he sent out a roaring fireball towards the woman. He was grimacing in pain as he had forced himself through the hand seals despite the stab wound that was quickly turning a sickly mix of purples and yellows.

"10 o'clock!" She could feel Kurenai-sensei's chakra enter the log. Wordlessly Hinata rushed towards it and began to throw a strike forward toward Kurenai-sensei just as she appeared.

"You're in my range of divination. Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!" She throws two strikes forward both aimed at the woman's torso. "Two palms!" She throws another two, these aimed at the arms. "Four Palms!" She lashes out with four more strikes all aimed at tenketsu in the woman's torso. "Eight Palms!" She sends out another eight strikes now deviating into attacking the legs as well. "Sixteen Palms!" She's now peppering the woman's entire body with welts from her attacks. "Thirty-Two Palms!" Her strikes had been speeding up the entire time and had become a blur. "Sixty-Four Palms!"

Hinata stumbled forward as her moment carried forward through the woman as she popped in a puff of smoke. What kind of clone was that? According to Hina-chan elemental clones could be easily detected by the Byakugan. "What?!" Her girlfriend was clearly as confused as she was. Naruko felt Kurenai-sensei's chakra reappear in the center of the training field just as the energy began to disperse.

"Her chakra is back in the center of the training field. But I think we need to get Sasuke to a hospital to remove that poison." As she was speaking the energy fully faded. She didn't have to say anything as she knew Hina-chan was aware of the difference in appearance.

* * *

"Are you saying we abandon the test?" Kurenai had used another Genjutsu to spy on the kids, she had quickly realized Naruko was a sensor of some kind so she had tried to make them think she wasn't still here by using another clone.

"She never said we couldn't leave and come back, if we hurry we might pass." This is true they technically could leave if they so chose. But it didn't matter.

"There's no need for that. You three already passed." The girls blink in surprise and Sasuke just stares dumbly, likely feeling delirious. She smiles, she had been lying when she said it was designed for misogynists and would rot his balls. Why would she have something specifically prepared for that? She wasn't about to go assaulting random citizens for having shitty beliefs, as much as she might want. No instead the poison just acted as a hallucinogenic that would slowly become more intense in nature as it spread through the bloodstream. Essentially the victim wouldn't realize they were slowly losing their edge until it was far to late.

"Kurenai-sensei, but we didn't capture you." It was Hinata who spoke.

"I know I merely told you that you needed to attempt to capture me. You three did just that. Not only that but you passed the secret test."

"What? Senju is the best?! That's a lie and you all know it!" Sasuke could barely tell what was happening. Kurenai held in the chuckle, she was tempted to leave him like this but that would be cruel.

"I should probably give him the antidote." That said she walks over and sticks a syringe into his neck (she retrieved it from one of the many scrolls on her person), a clear liquid being injected in. "He should be feeling better in about an hour." She clears her throat. "Anyways, there is a secret test to see if you three could work together as a team, even when you knew one of you would fail as a consequence. Here in Konoha we value teamwork above all else so if you failed to work together you would have failed together. By the way, you all need to work on your acting skills, Sasuke wouldn't have fooled a child with that act. If you're going to say something don't over exaggerate, I'll bet you two really thought I saw Naruko as a demon." The girls nod, she knew they had believed her, the anger in Hinata's eyes and cold apathy in Naruko's betrayed the fact that they fell for the ruse.

"But I can't blame you, my third extra jonin level skill is in manipulation and torture, I had been manipulating how you three would act since yesterday. And as you might have noticed, I never used a single Genjutsu that fight. That's because I intentionally spread information I wanted you to act wrongly on." Of course it just meant that they hadn't been prepared for a few things, it's not like it would have made a difference even if they did know better.

"So are you not S-rank in Genjutsu?" Naruko asks slightly disappointed.

"Oh no that's the truth, but it should be made clear no elite jonin is a one trick pony. Now then, seeing as you all passed I'll give you the rest of the day to relax. You may want to stop by the hospital before tomorrow so the med nin can patch you up. Meet here at 8am, I'll be breaking down our training and work schedule."

The three kids nod and make their way out of the training ground. Well Hinata and Naruko nod, Sasuke just sort of stare blankly. It was good that they took her message seriously and were the ones bringing Sasuke. He likely couldn't make it himself at the moment.

With a sigh she starts making her way to the Hokage tower, she had a report to give. Of course she tried to bury the giddy feeling of knowing that her sister had grown into such a fine kunoichi, a kunoichi under her tutelage.

* * *

The Hokage stares at the new Jonin-sensei in charge of the first academies students. "Team 1?"

"Failed. Recommendation, send them to the reserves."

"Team 2?"

"Failed. Recommendation, give them remedial lessons at one of the other academies and let them try again next year."

"Team 3?"

"Failed. Recommendation, send them to the reserves."

"Team 4?"

"Kick them out of the program."

"Team 5?"

"Passed. Will be beginning missions shortly."

"Team 6?"

"Passed. Training begins later today."

"Team 9?"

"Failed. Recommendation, send them to the reserves."

"You seven are dismissed. Now then you three." He says gesturing to the elite jonin in the room. "How did your teams do? I want full reports on my desk by tomorrow evening, for now just summarize. Now then Kurenai?"

"Team 7 passed. They showed exemplary deductive skills and teamwork. While they lack experience they already understand the value in helping one another and actually took the time to set up traps in the training field. Each one of them is already strong enough to be low chunin."

"Good. Kakashi?"

"Team 8 passed. They only barely did but they managed to pass the second half of the bell test. Their individual skills vary wildly. Kiba might be able to make chunin but Sakura is barely worthy of genin. Shino might as well be a chunin already."

"Team 10 passed. They have great teamwork and are already intimate with each others skills. They're only mid genin in strength but they've all got talent waiting to be dug up." That was no surprise, they were the new InoShikaCho trio for a reason. If they had poor teamwork then that would be a massive problem.

Hiruzen nods. It's not often that all the elite jonin end up passing their students. Last year Gai was the only one to do so out of four elites. This is a strong generation indeed. "Good, you're dismissed. I expect to see training reports every week and each of you here tomorrow for a mission." The teams trained by the elites were required to be reported on as they're considered a bigger investment of villages resources. Likewise they are required to take missions everyday except Saturday and Sunday, a regular team would only be required to take three a week. Well assuming they're D-ranks, if they are higher ranking then the normal required amounts are ignored for every week they're on that mission. Higher ranking missions also granted down time post mission so as to allow a recovery period, but that was fairly standard.

The three ninja salute their Hokage and then vanish in puffs of smoke. Hiruzen turned and looked out at the village from his window. He found himself wondering recently if his predecessors would be ashamed of him. He already knows Minato would be, the man was an idealist through and through. But the Nidaime was just as calculating and pragmatic as Hiruzen was if not more so. He was sure the Shodaime would be displeased, the man would have condemned him for having the Uchiha clan wiped out or for Naruko to be sacrificed for the greater good.

He had found himself feeling guilty over that more as time passed. But he had burned that bridge years ago and there was no turning back. All that was left to do was press forward, he had made his bed and he intended to lie in it.

* * *

Noihara Rin was proud of her career. She had become one of the greatest medics in the history of the village, second to only Senju Tsunade. At the young age of 18 she had taken over as the director of Konoha's hospital, and she had decreased the ninja mortality rate in the village from 10% to a mere 1%. She had done excellent work over the courses of her life and she was truly proud of it.

It was for this very pride that she smiled coldly at the nurse working the front desk. She had called her about some people causing problems at the front. As it turned out those people were none other than Uchiha Sasuke, who had an injured hand (a stab wound from a sword by the looks of it) along with Hyuuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruko.

"Would you repeat that for me?"

"I-I said that the demon was causing problems and would further injure Uchiha-sama." The woman was clearly sweating bullets.

"How many times must we tell you that I didn't injure him?! Just treat him already how is this so hard?" It was clear Naruko was frustrated with the treatment.

"It's clear they're just under your demonic influence you little whore!"

"That's enough! Whether or not Naruko-san caused this injury is irrelevant! You have a patient in front of you who is inured, in fact he still seems to be bleeding, and you are arguing with rather than getting him treated!" The woman wilted with every word. "If this happens again then I will have no choice but to administer disciplinary action. I'm giving you a warning today. Don't make me regret that choice." She turned to the three kids. "Come with me I'll get you treated." The two clan heirs needed treatment, she found it a bit curious that the redhead seemed completely fine. If she wasn't mistaken they were likely coming from their genin test and if they were that beat up then surely their sensei would have hurt Naruko too. But who was she to say.

The three genin nodded and she turned, if they had any sense they would follow her. She took them to a bench and quickly began healing Sasuke. The wound was deep but she was skilled and quickly closed it. He seemed faintly interested in her technique but didn't make any comment. Then she turned the the Hyuuga heiress and similar quickly set the nose in place so it would heal properly. Hinata yelped in pain as the broken nose was abruptly moved. Now she began to actually heal it as the cartilage mended and the nose returned to normal. "Alright you three are good to go. Try not to get stabbed like that again, that could have rendered your hand useless. And if you do don't force yourself to use it, the stress is terrible for the tendons when they're already strained from the damage."

"Right, I'll try not to get stabbed next time."

"As long as you try."

"Thanks for the help miss. . ." Naruko was the one who spoke.

"Rin. Noihara Rin." She was sure Hinata and Sasuke knew her, she had treated them personally on multiple occasions. Clans had sway like that. Naruko was of course someone she was familiar with, as her sensei's daughter but she had never met the girl in person. She looked like her mother to a frightening degree, but she didn't seem to have the same temperament. "If people give you trouble here in the future just seek me out. I'm a healer first and foremost. If someone is injured I will heal them, and that's that." The trio nods and stands.

"Thanks for the help Rin-san." She nods and waves the kids off. She smiled as she returned to her office, it was nice seeing the kids. They sort of reminded her of her own team. Albeit the resemblance was only a mild one.

* * *

She opened her ever regal white eyes, the world around her was the same as it had been for the last dozen years. How long had it been since she was the one in control? Too long, it wouldn't last. It never did. But maybe she would finally get a chance to meet _her_. Only time would tell.

* * *

A/N So I've figured something out about myself. I can't take breaks. If I take a break I'm far more likely to not updates for months on end than I am if I just keep writing. This chapter was finished not only quickly, but I had a lot of fun in the process of doing so. So I guess that just means you all are in for a treat. Yay! Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter, we finally get to see a bit into the personalities of Sasuke and Kurenai, so them being tagged is no longer clickbait! Thanks a lot to everyone who read and reviewed last chapter I appreciate it a lot. I try and respond to every review with a pm so if you check your inbox there is good odds you have a message if you haven't seen it already. I also wanna give a big thanks to everyone for following we just hit 200! I can really feel the love and it does mean a lot, it's super encouraging to see that so many people (presumably) enjoy my writing.

On another note a mistake was once again pointed out to me this time in regards to the gravity test from last chapter. It was intended for the gravity to feel like it's doubled everytime the level rises but I said it was increasing by a factor of one, which means it's not actually changing. Chapter 4 has been updated to correct for this. To that same reviewer who pointed out the error, thank you very much I hadn't even realized I misunderstood the phrase and would have never noticed.

Oh by the way, I have no idea if anyone is interested but I went and uploaded the first chapter of a Fairy Tail fanfic idea that I had in my head for a while. It's more genderbending and more yuri so it's there if you're interested. I have no idea if I'm going to keep up with it, but it's there if you want a short read.

Until next time.

CM 02/05/2020


	6. The Three Eyed Rabbit

"I can't believe she stabbed me." Naruko was surprised that he was still going on about this. He had been upset yesterday as they left the hospital but she wasn't expecting him to still be so upset. Of course she guessed not having her injuries heal in minutes would make her more annoyed too. She decided to throw in her own thoughts on the subject.

"To be fair she did say she wouldn't hesitate to harm us in the fight, y'know after she broke my wrist." That had hurt a lot, but she had recovered quickly as always.

"I think our plan of trying to enrage a Jonin into chasing a single Genin was a little flawed."

"No shit Hinata, she stabbed me!" Naruko giggled a bit, it was sorta bizarre seeing Sasuke so talkative.

"Calm down Sasuke the medic nin already patched you up, there's not even a hole in your hand anymore"

"Yeah but there shouldn't have been a hole in my hand at all, and I still remember the pain. And you know you'd be madder if she had done the same to Naruko."

"Naruko is my girlfriend of course I'd be angrier. And she injured all of us so it's not like you're the only one who go attacked."

"Yeah breaking my wrist hurt a lot."

Sasuke looked down at her fully healed wrist. "You know I hadn't thought about it yesterday, but how did your wrist heal before we even made it to the hospital?" She figured this would come up at some point, it was a simple truth that he would learn about her fast healing.

Naruko looks down at her wrist and then shrugs, "I just heal really fast I guess." She wasn't sure if it was because she used the nature transformation or if it's the demon inside of her. Maybe both. She had always been a fast healer but that really didn't say much.

The three Genin were currently gathered in training ground 14 once more. Their sensei should arrive any minute now. With a puff of smoke the woman appears. Speak of the devil. "Good you three are here. Before we begin I wanted to congratulate you one more time on passing my test. You three need a lot of work, but you might just make it."

"Apologize."

"For what Sasuke?"

"For stabbing me!" Hinata lets out a sign of annoyance.

"Will you shut up about that."

"Not until she apologizes, what if I lost my hand because of her? How would you feel if you lost yours? Have some empathy Hinata."

"You didn't even lose your hand calm down."

"Not until I get justice for my injury. So apologize!" He said turning back to Kurenai-sensei.

"Would stabbing you again count as an apology, because that's the best you're going to get if you keep talking."

"Shutting up."

Naruko speaks up. "Hey sensei. I hadn't really thought about it yesterday but what was the purpose of the glass balls?" One breaking hadn't stopped them from passing the test so clearly that had been part of the lie. And maybe that's all it was, but Kurenai-sensei seemed like the type to hide lessons in everything she does.

"They represent an important package that you don't want to damage fighting another ninja. Be it battle plans, a hostage or official you're looking to rescue/capture, or just a jutsu scroll that we might not have in the village. In any of those situations you would fail your mission if you damaged those things. Obviously you didn't succeed perfectly, but that's what I'm here for. If you all could retrieve important packages from a near S-rank kunoichi as Genin then you wouldn't need a Jonin sensei. They were also meant to make you work against each other but you three didn't even consider it. A large part of the reason you passed."

* * *

Kurenai continues on seeing her redheaded student nod along, clearly accepting her answer."Now then as I said yesterday I'll be breaking down our training schedule. We'll meet here at 8am every weekday. Until 11am we'll be doing teamwork exercises. This will include practicing moving in formation along with combination attacks, and general training for teaching you to predict your teammates action. Then we'll have lunch and go to the mission office. We should generally be finished by 1pm. Then I'll have the three of you spar against each other in a free for all for either an hour or until there is a winner. At 2pm I will train the winner in a one on one session, then at 3pm I'll train the person who comes in second. Finally at 4pm I'll train the one who came in last. While you aren't required to stay and train while the one on ones are happening, I would encourage you to take the time to train with your other teammate." They would hopefully take that message to heart, the more familiar they become with each others skill sets the better off they'll be. She doubted it would be much of an issue with Naruko and Hinata, the two girls had been training together for years now, but hopefully Sasuke wouldn't have any issue training with his teammates. Although seeing as he was already bantering with the two girls she suspected it wouldn't be much of an issue.

Before they can ask any questions she continues. "On Saturday we'll meet here at 9am and will be doing mock battles. Sometimes it will be all three of you against me, other times it will be two of you against the other. And sometimes I will have other leaf ninja come act as your enemies. The ninja I bring in could range anywhere from an elite Jonin like myself to another team of Genin. We will do this for two hours. Then you'll be given a lunch break and We'll do more one on ones. This time it will be for two hours each. On these days the order is picked randomly. You will have Sundays off. I recommend avoiding training on those days to give your bodies a chance to rest. Constant work will only do harm in the long run. Lastly I encourage you to do your own physical conditioning as I will not be wasting our time by making you run laps." She saw no benefit in spending their time telling them how to exercise, this is further compounded by the fact that the three kids have different body types and fighting styles so certain exercises might benefit one but hinder the other. "However that being said, I wake up at 5am to begin my own work outs, if any of you are industrious enough to find me then I'll allow you to join me. Now any questions?"

"What will we be doing during the one on ones? And will there be a difference between the weekdays and Saturday?" It was the only male member of the team who asked.

"There will be differences between the two. On Tuesday, Thursday and an hour on Saturday I will be training you in the subject you chose for your self study. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday and the other hour on Saturday I will be training you in the core ninja arts along with one extra skill I think you would benefit from. The order of what we focus on will be different week to week." Sasuke nods seemingly satisfied with that answer. Hinata takes her turn and asks.

"What should we expect on these missions?"

"They're D-ranks. They're going to seem like chores at first but try and look for the hidden training in them."

The red head asks. "Are we not taking missions on weekends?"

"No, the weekends are for having a greater focus on training and relaxation. Everyone needs a break sometimes." Seeing as there are no more questions she continues. "Alright, we've wasted enough time talking about training let's actually start training. We're going to start real basic." She takes out three blindfolds and one of the glass balls. "I want you all to put these on, over your eyes. Hinata if you activate your Byakugan I will know and I will punish you." The three Genin each walk up and grab a blindfold putting it on and awaiting further orders. "Good, now I want you to pass the ball between each other. If the ball breaks then the person who wasn't supposed to be throwing or catching will have a small dose of poison injected into them. It will only subtly change their senses but each dose will increase the effect. Don't worry it won't cause any lasting damage and isn't lethal. The antidote is fast acting as well." Essentially the more they failed the easier it would be to fail again. She doubted they would do well today, but that would change with time.

"Why is the person not involved getting punished?"

"Because more often than not it's not you who is punished for your mistakes, it's your teammates." Her tone was grim, there wasn't a single Jonin in Konoha who hadn't seen that principal first hand. She walks over and places the ball in Naruko's hand. The girl gets the message and speaks, "Incoming Hina-chan." She tosses the ball to where she last saw the other girl. The sound of a ball shattering rings through the air. Kurenai expected as much, Hinata and Sasuke are going to have an especially hard time with this, they've been trained to rely on their visual prowess. She walks over to the boy and gently pricks him with a poisoned senbon, she then takes out another ball and gives it to him.

And so it goes, by the end of the three hours the kids could barely toss the ball straight. Unsurprisingly Naruko had the easiest time catching the ball and working without her vision. She had a sneaking suspicion the girl had already started to develop an immunity to her poison, Kurenai would have to give her more potent dosages. Of course she would eventually become immune to that too, but making her immune to poisons was not a bad thing, it would just mean she'd have to get creative with making new poisons. In many ways she was actually looking forward to it.

That was another benefit of this exercise she didn't tell them, they'd all develop an immunity to basic sensory and paralytic poisons by the time they actually mastered the exercise. Seeing as they need to move on she quickly tosses three senbon into each of their necks, this one laced with the antidote. In less than a minute all three of the kids had stopped staggering and removed their blindfolds. "Alright let's go get lunch. Today we'll eat out, you can consider it a celebration for becoming my Genin, but starting tomorrow there will be a rotation of who brings lunch for everybody, Sasuke your first. Buy it or make it, it's up to you. Hinata your after Sasuke, followed by Naruko. I'll bring lunches for us last."

"What's the point?" She figured he wouldn't understand the value in eating together.

"You all might be teammates and it's fine if you can just work together, but things work better for everyone, well maybe not your enemies, if you three actually forge interpersonal bonds. It makes it harder for someone pretending to be you to slip in and it gives you a base to build morale." The boy nods, clearly content with that answer. She was beginning to think his psyche evaluations weren't accurate. Supposedly he's supposed to be arrogant and power hungry, but she can see a desire for knowledge for what mostly seemed to be for the sake of knowledge. Perhaps in another life he would have been a scholar. He at the very least seemed to be taking the concept of friendship with his teammates seriously. This was the what damned the report the most to her. It said the boy hated everyone his age and sought to bring them down, but he seemed to already be getting along with the two girls. Well enough to be complaining about being stabbed at the very least.

"Now then anywhere in particular you'd like to go?"

"Ichiraku Ramen."

"Yakiniku Q."

The two girls spoke at the same time and stare at each other. Hinata's expression is stern, Naruko's is challenging. Naruko's turns into a pout. Hinata sighs, "The Dumpling shop?" It was also known as the Dango shop. Naruko nods her head. Kurenai could only guess that this is an exchange that happens regularly if they could resolve it without even speaking. Still they had another teammate to consider.

Kurenai looks at the boy, "You fine with that Sasuke?"

"I don't mind."

Kurenai nods and says "Then let's go to the Dumpling shop." She wonders if a certain snake summoner will be there.

* * *

She was. She had also immediately made eye contact with her, well this was as good a time as any to introduce her team. "Hey Nai-chan, who're the kids?"

"Hello Anko, these are my Genin. Naruko, Hinata, Sasuke, meet Mitarashi Anko, my best friend. Anko meet my Genin." Kurenai sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as she saw Anko smiling wickedly at her students. Hinata and Sasuke were blushing as they stared at her open trench coat, Naruko looked completely baffled. It wasn't surprising, the whole get up was part of Anko's strength. It aided in seduction and also helped at times to sell the idea that she's a bit psychotic, T&I tended to work better when their prisoners were unsettled from the get go. Plus they needed to keep the image up at all times. If traitors or spies thought she was a softy before being captured then they would think much the same afterwords. T&I for this reason was one of the most strenuous jobs in the village. They were constantly on the job, even when they're with their loved ones. Any less and their carefully crafted facade would crumble.

"Ah look at them they're so embarrassed by a mature woman like myself. Well, do you like what you see?"

"Yes." Kurenai chuckled, leave it to Hinata to be blunt about her sexuality.

"Hey Hina-chan, would you like it if I dressed like that? You're blushing a lot."

"Only in private." Naruko nods, accepting the answer.

"Hina-chan do you like them big like hers?"

"No I actually prefer that yours are smaller."

"Oh my Nai-chan it looks to me like you've got a couple of little cuties on your team, send them to me in a few years. They might just end up being my type." Anko says slyly.

Kurenai snorts and says. "I'm going to tell Hana you said that."

"No don't do it Nai-chan! I was only kidding! You know I love Hana!" The tears were fake and they both knew it. Anko and Hana Inuzuka had been dating for a few years now and Anko had told Kurenai in private she wanted to put a ring on the other girls finger once the seal on her neck was removed. That was another aspect of Anko, she had a public persona to keep but Hana knew that, it was part of the job. They still liked to tease the snake summoner about it regardless.

Kurenai waved a waiter over, quickly selecting a few dishes for her and her students while the kids were focused on the Anko's fake tears.

"Do you mean Hana Inuzuka, Kiba's older sister?" It was Hinata who asked, from her expression she seemed mildly surprised.

"You know the little brat?"

"He was in our class."

"Well then yeah, I've been dating Hana-chan for about three years now."

"Does she knows her little brother called us," She gestures between herself and Naru-chan, "dykes before? When we came out. And on multiple other occasions." Ah that explains the surprise at least. Hinata likely thought Hana wouldn't be gay, given Kiba's apparent homophobia.

"Hina-chan be nice, we already made up with him."

"I was not trying to bring any harm to him, but given that he called us dykes despite his own sister being gay puts his actions in a much worse perspective, does it not? I almost feel as though we forgave him too easily now."

"I guess." The redhead looked confused, well Kurenai wouldn't fault her for it, it's easy to retroactively get upset over something that was once forgiven. The hurt doesn't go away just because apologies were made. People just weren't that simple, if they were the ninja villages wouldn't be constantly preparing for the next big war.

Anko cackles, "Oh Hana-chan's gonna love this, so will Tsume!"

"By the way, I've taken the liberty of ordering our food."

"Thanks sensei." The three kids chorus together.

"So Nai-chan what made you decide you wanted to take a team this year?" Kurenai had never told anyone about her arrangement with the Hokage, it was just a touch to personal. Of course Kurenai was prepared for the question and had an answer that wasn't entirely false.

"I heard Kushina-sensei's legacy was graduating." Kurenai had been a Genin under the red haired woman, along with Maito Gai and Uzuki Yugao.

"You knew my mom?" It was Naruko who spoke. Kurenai was a bit surprised, she hadn't realized that Naruko was aware of her mothers identity, but it was public information so perhaps she shouldn't be surprised. Did she know who her father was too then? Perhaps not, it was hard to say.

"Of course I knew her, she was my sensei when I was a Genin."

"Oh cool, can you tell me anything about her? I only really know her name."

"Why hasn't the Hokage or anyone else told you anything? It's not like he forbade people from telling you." It's true, he had only made information on the girls father classified. She couldn't help but wonder why the girl hadn't asked Hiashi or Teuchi about her. Hell she could have even gone to the Hokage and asked, he had no reason to keep it a secret.

"I've only ever asked the Hokage and all he says is, "Your parents were great heroes." or he'll just deflect the question. And then I guess I was never curious enough before now to ask Hiashi or Teuchi-ojisan."

Anko speaks up. "I'm surprised your little girlfriend never asked."

"Oh I've asked, but they both told me they wouldn't say anything until Naru-chan asks them herself. The most I've gotten was the name out of Otou-sama." Kurenai blinks, well that explains it.

"So can you tell me about my mom or not?"

"Sure, anything in particular you'd like to know?"

Naruko hesitates before asking quietly. "Did she want me?" Kurenai felt her heart wrench at the question. Naruko had never had a chance to meet Kushina-sensei or see the sheer joy she exuded whenever talking about her child. She clenched her fist, if she had been better those years ago then she would have been able to let Naruko know about her mother far earlier. How long had she struggled with these hidden doubts? She let out a breath and answered.

"More than you'll ever know. The day she found out she was pregnant with you she seemed to be practically glowing with happiness. It was almost like Konoha had a second sun for a few weeks. As time wore on it became a more muted happiness. When she found out you were going to be a girl all she did for months was talk about how she'd make you her little princess. In many ways I think she felt you were her greatest accomplishment. I have no doubt she'd be proud of the young woman you're growing into."

* * *

Hinata gently runs her hand up and down Naru-chan's back. She knew the other girl must be feeling pretty emotional at hearing she was in fact loved, for now this is the best she can do to soothe her. She hears the girl faintly whisper, "Kaa-chan." Hinata can't help but smile. She knew the girl appreciated the gifts connecting her to the extinct clan. Because even if the girl would deny it, she knew deep down that the girl wanted desperately to know her family. But she buried it under layers of apathy towards them thanks to the villagers abuse. "Was she strong?"

* * *

Kurenai grins, the woman was more than just strong, "She and Tsunade-sama are the strongest kunoichi I've ever met. She was easily a kage level shinobi with S-rank Kenjutsu, Taijutsu, and Fuinjutsu. When she used that in conjunction with her signature chakra chains she was almost unstoppable on the battlefield. She was also Jonin level in every other ninja art. She had actually been in contention for becoming the Yondaime. She's the reason that I'm Jonin level in Kenjutsu." Her Taijutsu style is also what Gai based the Goken on. He simply adapted it to better fit his body type and focus more on the pure force of it.

"What is her Taijutsu style like? Oh thank you." the latter half is stated as her food along with the others are brought to them. Kurenai eyes Hinata, the white eyed girl was staring down the waiter who had just been glaring at Naruko. The redhead likely wasn't even aware of it, or if she was she didn't acknowledge it.

"I think you'd like it, you already seem fond of kicks. However I never learned her style, but I know someone who knows every level of the style. If you want to stick around after we're done today I'll introduce you." Kurenai was happy to help her student. She turns to look at the other two, seeing as they had been left out of the conversation only to see Hinata glaring at her fiercely. She acknowledges it and mouths the words "Later." She wasn't going to make a scene in public, they'd deal with whatever this problem is during their one on one later. She genuinely isn't sure of why the white eyed girl shifted her anger towards her from the waiter. It was likely for a different reason, but she would need to find out soon.

The group settles into Idle chatter for a bit only for Anko to shout, "Hey Hana-chan! You'll never guess what I found out!" The woman with long brown hair tied into a ponytail had just stepped into the dumpling shop.

"Oh is there a discount on dango?" her voice has a teasing lilt to it.

"Don't even joke about that. No it's hilarious, well it will be for me. You'll be mad."

"What did Kiba do?" It was the only thing that really amused Anko that also made the brunette angry. Kurenai chuckled, of course Hana had figured it out instantly.

"Turns out he called these two a couple of dykes." She says jerking a thumb towards the Genin. Seeing the look on her girlfriends face she laughs. "You can kill him later, hopefully while I get to watch, for now come eat with us." Hana sighs and takes the seat next to Anko. Leaning on her shoulder.

"I've missed you."

"I've missed you more."

The Genin were all a little surprised, Anko had just been so boisterous. Now she was so, well, sweet.

"So Hana how did the mission go?"

"It was pretty easy just had to hunt down and capture a B-rank missing nin from Iwa. He was surprisingly weak for his rank."

The three Jonin fall into conversation, while it's happening Sasuke is staring hard at Hana clearly thinking about something. Finally he seems to give up on figuring whatever it is and asks. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"You were pretty little so you probably don't remember, but I was on Itachi-kuns team. I briefly went to the academy with him, but he had been a Chunin at the time he was assigned to my team, thanks to him graduating early we had a missing space and he had just become Chunin so he was put on my team. Since his own team died in the exam." The boy was probably to young to even remember Itachi's first team. "So I used to hang out with Itachi-kun at your house after training."

Kurenai stands and speaks. "Sorry to interrupt," Not really, it's better for everyone if she gets the boys mind off Itachi. "But we need to go get our mission if we're going to stick to my schedule. It was good seeing you two. Be sure not to be caught going at in public. Again." The three Genin look at them and raise an eyebrow at that, again?

* * *

As it turned out Kurenai-sensei hadn't been lying when she said D-ranks would be like chores. In fact they weren't just like chores they were chores. Oddly enough Naru-chan didn't seem to bothered by that. She actually seemed kind of happy. Maybe she had figured out the secret training in it. Hinata and Sasuke certainly hadn't. All they were doing was pulling weeds.

"How can you enjoy this Naruko?"

"Well it's a lot like what I have to do when I'm gardening, so it's not much different from what I do for fun." Well that explained it at least. Hinata couldn't bring herself to enjoy this. She had helped Naru-chan garden before but normally their was no old woman glaring at the redhead for the sin of being alive. Maybe that's the secret training, learning how to deal with clients who don't like them and who they, in turn, don't like. Hinata certainly had been holding back her annoyance, it would do no good to yell at their client while on the job.

They finished about an hour later, their hands dirty and their knees sore from squatting for so long. Kurenai-sensei hadn't helped them at all, instead just watching over them while relaxing. Maybe that is supposed to represent the fact that their Jonin-sensei won't always be there to help them. Hinata had to tell herself that there's really a meaning to this or she might have gone insane.

"Good job team, now we'll go report back to the Mission Desk. Then we'll get back to training." They only had to report directly to the Hokage for C-rank missions that end up involving combat or any higher ranked mission. Otherwise the Mission Desk would take care of things for them.

It was a simple affair, all they had to do was grab a form that was made specifically for D-ranks. Fill it out and then turn it in to the report box. The Mission Desk would do the rest.

They returned to training ground 14 and Kurenai spoke. "Alright as promised it's time for the free for all. Anything goes today, but know that in the future I will sometimes limit you to only two ninja arts of my choosing. Go at each other with the intent to kill, I will stop any killing blows so do not worry. If I have to stop a blow for you then you're out and have lost. Begin."

* * *

Naruko flies through a series of hand signs casting a genjutsu on her two teammates. "Demonic Illusion: Hell viewing technique." She doesn't wait to see if the Genjutsu worked or not, launching straight towards Hina-chan. She performs a spin kick only for her foot to meet chakra metal as Hina-chan raises her arm, Byakugan blazing.

"Naru-chan I've fought you enough times to know you always start with a genjutsu. It's why I always activate my Byakugan as soon as a fight starts." Naruko knew this fact well, her specialty is completed countered by Hina-chan and it would be by Sasuke as well once he unlocks his Sharingan. She'd have to ask Kurenai-sensei if she knew of a way around that. Naruko feels a heat quickly approaching from behind and dodges to the side. The fireball was now on a collision course with Hina-chan. The white eyed girl dodges out of the way only a second slower than herself. Naruko retreats as Hina-chan turns her focus to the Uchiha.

* * *

Hinata was met by the ocular prowess of the Uchiha. "When did you unlock your Sharingan?"

"Yesterday right before Kurenai-sensei stabbed me. Even with me being able to see everything in slow motion I couldn't react fast enough." He says lashing out with a punch that she deflects.

"Then do you realize you're in my range of divination?" She lashes forward with the Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms. But she knows it's failing as she can feel none of her hits connecting. She couldn't manage to complete it, as she feels her girlfriends foot launching her to the side. She flips and slides back, tossing a volley of kunai at the other two. She manages to nick them both, they had become distracted by each other. Good all her kunai were laced in her poison, nothing lethal, simply a paralytic. She never brought the lethally poisoned kunai to spars. She sees Sasuke lock up just on time to get ax kicked by Naruko. His head goes crashing into the ground. And then he is gone, replaced by a log. She whirls as she spots him behind her, her Jyuken strike connects with his shoulder.

* * *

He felt his arm go limp and cursed. He can't cast Jutsu like this. And his Taijutsu is severely limited as well. He sluggishly attempts to retreat only to be met by foot to his temple. Or he would have had Kurenai-sensei not blocked it. "Sasuke you're out, you get to hang back with me while the other two finish." With that she grabs him and a feeling of nausea washes over him. "That's the Shunshin no Jutsu taking effect, it's a little had to stomach at first. By the way congratulations on activating your blood line. It's a powerful tool but try not to end up becoming overly reliant on it. Also it's okay to copy your allies techniques but you should ask for permission before using them, unless it's life or death. It may not seem like much but it shows them you respect them and their hard work. Additionally anything you copy you should train with because while you'll learn the jutsu, mastery still takes effort."

* * *

Kurenai smiles, that was part of the reason she had hurt him as badly as she had. He had a tool and the sooner he learns to use it the better. She can't wait to force him to learn how to use Genjutsu. He's fortunate enough to be able to cast Genjutsu through eye contact and she's not letting that go to waste. Really she's going to make all of them learn. Just as how Kushina-sensei made her learn to use Kenjutsu.

Of course she would also help him train with what he copied, she had meant it when she said mastery still takes effort. It's why Hatake Kakashi was the premier Ninjutsu specialist in Konoha. The man had learned hundreds of jutsu, it was mere hyperbole when people said he knew over a thousand, and more importantly he had mastered each and every one of them. It's why he is currently one of three active duty S-rank nin in the service of Konoha. The other two were Gai and Jiraiya (the Hokage didn't count as he doesn't take missions). Kurenai was almost at that point herself, She just had to push her Kenjutsu a little farther and she'd be there. She'd likely make it within the next year. Of course that's just how it is with elite Jonin, they were all either S-rank or borderline S-rank.

She turned her attention back to the two girls who had been fighting for the past minute. Neither were showing signs of fatigue, that's good. Fights made a bit of bell curve in terms of length and strength of the fighters. Genin, Elite Jonin and Kage (as rare as fights between Kage level ninja are) tended to have long fights, while Chunin, Tokubetsu, Jonin and regular Jonin tended to have short fights. For Genin it's because they are so sloppy that they make mistakes that drag the fight on, but their opponents also make mistakes that don't allow them to capitalize. As for Elite Jonin and Kage their fights are longer because by the time they reach that level they almost never make mistakes, of course almost never isn't never and the first to make such a mistake is the one who ends up dead. For Chunin fights are shorter Because they and their opponents are skilled enough to capitalize on mistakes and there are plenty being made. Finally for Tokubetsu Jonin and Jonin they don't make as many mistakes but they aren't quite good enough to make one once in several hours of fighting at their peak, but rather a few minutes and that is enough for the opponent to win, the boarder between low A-rank to high A rank and low S-rank is like night in day really. S-rank nin almost never made mistakes and neither did their opponents. Well all this is assuming they are fighting people of roughly equal skill Obviously a fight between a Genin and a Kage will always end with the Genin dying instantly. She had gotten seriously derailed, the point is it's important for them to have stamina to last long in fights, it would help them immensely in the long run.

* * *

Naru-chan leaps backwards out of the way of her Jyuken strike. Hinata couldn't give Naru-chan time to sit still, if she used her nature transformation then Hinata might just lose. It's not like she has problems losing to the redhead but she's been waiting for hours to talk to Kurenai-sensei and losing will only put it off more. She dashes forward and imitating her girlfriends favorite move she performs a spin kick. Naru-chan blocks with her hand. Hinata smirks in victory. The kick is blocked but Naru-chan's hand falls limp.

"Hina-chan when did you learn to use the Jyuken with something other than your fingers?"

"I've been practicing it for a while now, I've always thought it silly that we don't use our legs in combat at all."

The favor of the fight quickly goes to Hinata as now that Naru-chan can't use her hand she was having a harder time of deflecting the strikes she couldn't dodge. She lunges forward with a strike aimed at Naruko's chest only to feel a foot connecting with her chin. She falls over unconscious. When she awakens next it's to the sight of her concerned girlfriend. "Sorry Hina-chan didn't mean to kick you that hard."

"It's okay Naru-chan. But last I checked you weren't that fast." It's true, Naruko hadn't been moving that fast during the entirety of the fight.

"Ah well I figured if I intentionally moved slower after you saw me using the nature transformation so much in the past two days you might have forgotten my true speed. Guess it worked." Hinata hadn't been expecting that but the redhead was absolutely right. She'd have to work on keeping track of these things better. The loss was annoying but she wouldn't be mad, her girlfriend had used a strategy Hinata hadn't even considered and had won for it. It wouldn't work again.

Kurenai-sensei finally speaks, having walked up when she was knocked out. "So Naruko will get to go first. Hinata you have an hour break, Sasuke you have two. As stated earlier I recommend you two practice working together while I'm with Naruko." Naru-chan smiles at the white eyed girl.

"I'll talk to you later Hina-chan. Just you wait before you know it I'll be winning all our spars." Hinata could tell Naru-chan was happy. Her girlfriend hadn't won a single spar in the past month.

"Talk to you soon." Hinata gives her girlfriend a quick peck and walks off with Sasuke in tow. Before she can leave Kurenai calls out.

* * *

"If you two want to practice together I'd recommend heading to training ground 23 it's typically empty at this time of day." The two nod and walk off. She turns to Naruko and says. "Alright, you're in luck, because you have the same specialty as me you actually get to practice it 4 times a week instead of three. But we aren't going to work on your genjutsu today. I'm going to be focusing on your ninjutsu instead. Do you know your affinity?"

"No I couldn't find any chakra paper." Well it wasn't exactly something that is easily accessible to Genin so it didn't really come as a surprise to Kurenai. That was why she came prepared.

"That's okay, I have some with me today." She gets out a small square sheet of paper. "Just channel some chakra into it. If the paper crinkles then you have Raiton, if it's wet you have Suiton, if it burns you have Katon, if it crumbles you have Doton, and finally if it splits you have Futon." She wondered if the girl would have fuuton like her father or suiton like her mother. Or maybe something different, while chakra natures do tend to be hereditary they also drew some influence from environmental factors. It's why the five villages had majority affinities matching their countries.

Naruko takes hold of the paper and channels chakra into it. It split into two pieces, one half was wet but the other was seemingly normal. Odd, normally when someone has two affinities where one is fuuton it splits and then both sides turn. But for some reason only half did, that normally only happens in the event of three affinities. "Naruko can I see that normal piece?" Naruko shrugs and hands it to her.

Kurenai gasps as the paper grows wet and then crumbles. She hadn't been channeling chakra. It's like the piece just sucked it out of her! She gets out another sheet. "Do it again for me." Naruko looks at her in confusion but does so regardless. The same result as last time. "Alright hand me the plain one again." Kurenai was careful with her chakra this time, making sure absolutely none was leaking out. She carefully grabs it again and once more it gets wet and crumbles. She felt it for sure that time, it's really sucking out her chakra.

"Sensei why are you putting your chakra in that piece?"

"I'm not. Naruko, I think you have some kind of kekkei genkai." She had never heard of a kekkei genkai that lets someone suck chakra out of other people, or maybe even jutsu, before. But that's exactly what the paper was doing. She'd have to figure out a way to teach the girl to use this.

"Really, that's so cool, what do you think it does?"

"If I had to guess I'd say it sucks chakra out from others."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because the blank piece took my chakra without me channeling any, it even did so when I was holding it back."

"Oh, that's cool."

"So in light of our new discoveries we'll have you spend the first thirty minutes of today's one on one doing suiton training. Just grab a leaf off a tree." She was going to start with Suiton simply because it was the affinity they both shared. The girl runs to the nearest tree and snatches a leaf. "Your goal is two fold, first is to suck water out of the leave then to make it into a perfect sphere balanced on your finger. If you want to advance quickly in this you should probably do it outside of our regular training as well. Then for the latter half of the one on one we'll be trying to figure out ways for you to use your kekkei genkai, don't feel bad if you can't get it today or even in a few weeks." If they were going to try and figure this out from scratch then it would likely have many days or weeks of little to no progress.

* * *

Thirty minutes later Naruko had made practically no progress on drawing water out of the leaf, she was prepared to continue but Kurenai-sensei had alerted her it was time to switch focus.

"Alright, I don't think either of us know how to activate your kekkei genkai, so for now I want you to try meditating. Maybe if you try to find your chakra like you did when you were in the academy it will work. Unfortunately Konoha only has Doujutsu so we're unfamiliar with how to activate elemental or enhancement kekkei genkai, which in case you're not aware elemental kekkei genkai are the combination of two elements together into a new one. And enhancement kekkei genkai come from being able to modify your own body in someway without using any jutsu to do so. We can assume for now yours is elemental since the chakra paper was able to find it. Although this could be proven wrong, but normally enhancement kekkei genkai don't show up with chakra paper and it's obviously not a Doujutsu."

Naruko can somewhat feel her heart racing. The last time she did this she saw the demon and it had terrified her. Well she thinks it's the demon, it had been a separate chakra core that had somehow become that awful eye but it logically makes sense to be the demon. Still she wants to know so despite her fears, she sits down in the lotus position and focuses on finding her chakra. It doesn't take long this time since she's grown so used to it. She opens her eyes and finds herself once more in the black space illuminated only by the two chakra sources. She sees her own blue one. It's grown bigger, and seems to have solidified, was that because she has better chakra control?

She looks at it for several moments, there doesn't seem to be anything special about it. She walks up to it and touches it. No she's certain, her chakra is normal. She turns around and looks towards the other source. It was still three different colors. Interestingly it seems like the red has receded a bit and it's more white and yellow now. With a great amount of hesitation she walks towards it. It doesn't seem to react this time. Against her better judgment she places her hand on the yellow part. It's familiar, this is made of the same thing as that nature energy. But it's not what she's looking for. She places her hand on the white part and with a yelp she finds herself being drawn in. She blacks out.

* * *

On the outside Kurenai was watching in concern. She knew the girl contained the demon and this could be dangerous. She had almost interrupted as the girl started pulsing chakra. But as quickly as it started, it stopped. And then things changed again. Now her hair was forming horns, or maybe ears, and she seemed to have red eyeliner as well. Then that stopped too.

Then she changed again. The girls hair had turned white, but that wasn't the change that surprised her. No what surprised her was the tattoo that appeared on her forehead. In the shape of a closed eye that ran vertical. What ever this was the appearance was different from her transformation the day before, it unsettled her far more however.. At least she never felt that evil chakra from the demon, but this only raised more questions. What is this form she's taking?

She watched in almost a trance as dark red magtama started to appear stretch across her skin from under her clothes. If she had to guess they were somehow connected to the seal, but in what way she didn't know. They continued to creep upwards until they swirled around the tattoo forming a ring around it.

* * *

When Naruko awoke she was in a temple of some sort. It was illuminated by candlelight and the walls were decorated in tapestries. They all had one thing in common. A woman with long hair and horns atop her head were present in every image. Along with her it showed imagery of a large tree bearing fruit that the woman ate, along with a monster bearing 10 tails. Naruko wasn't ignorant to the being in the images, although she was unsure of the woman's connection. Naruko slowly walks down the long chamber of the temple. It takes her a few minutes but finally she reaches the end. There are two statues standing next to each other at the altar, and a gap that seems like it would fit another between them. One is much larger than the other and seems to represent a great tree. The other showed a monstrous creature with ten waving tails. A figure seems to be sitting at the altar, surrounded by candles. Interestingly only two of the candles seem to be casting shadows. One onto each statue.

Slowly the figure stands and reveals itself to be a woman. She was the tallest woman Naruko had ever seen, If she had to guess she was just under seven feet tall. She had two long horns protruding from her head. Naruko realized this was the woman on the tapestries. Slowly the woman turns towards her and the redhead gasps when she sees the woman's eyes. Staring back at her is a pair of Byakugan eyes. The woman's eyes seem to widen. Her voice is soft like a fine silk, yet held a power that commanded ones attention. "Is that you Kagura?" Before Naruko can respond she shakes her head. "No. You seem to be of a similar spirit but you are not my granddaughter. So then you must be my current jailer."

"Are you the demon that attacked the village?"

The shadow on the monsters statue seemed to grow. "I am but I also am not. The Juubi is born from my power and I draw power from its origin, we were once two but now we are one."

"Is that it's proper name, Juubi?" The woman nods so Naruko continues. "So then who are you? And what do you mean about being one with it?"

"I've gone by many names. Some know me as the Rabbit Goddess, others know me as the Oni, and even still others know me as the Mother of Chakra. But the name I was given by my own parents is Otsutuski Kaguya. Now then child I have been unjustly sealed, won't you free me?" The woman didn't answer her other question, but Naruko chose not to push. She didn't want to anger this woman regardless of whether she is a demon or a god. Because whatever she is is irrelevant, there was one thing she was for sure. And that was powerful. More powerful than anything Naruko had ever seen before. It felt like nothing could come close to this woman's existence. Of course that begged the question of how anyone had managed to capture her and seal her away. Perhaps it had something to do with the Juubi, or maybe she had been tricked.

"What will happen if I let you out?"

"You will die, but know that your death will have allowed the world to achieve peace."

"Then I can't let you go, not now at least. I have people I have to keep on living for." Naruko still had a long life to live, and she doesn't care about world peace enough to die for it.

"I see, then I will merely have to wait a little while longer." The conversation dies at that, before Naruko remembers what she came here for in the first place.

"I seem to have an ability to suck out chakra, but I have no idea how to use it. Do you know about it?"

"My my, it seems you really are like Kagura, likely because you're my second jailer to be sealed as infant. Yes I know of that ability, it is mine." Who is this Kagura person, she had mentioned it's her granddaughter, but that doesn't really explain much.

"Then can you tell me how to use it?"

"Can you tell me how to breath? I cannot explain how to use instinct." Naruko guessed that made sense. It wasn't something she thought about then it was simply something she would have to do. Naruko watched as the two shadows slowly drifted towards one another.

"I see, thank you for the help Kaguya-san." The two shadows seem to merge into one on the empty wall between the statues. The center of the shadow turned red and took on the form of the eye from that day. Naruko felt her heart start thumping wildly as it stared at her. She couldn't take her eyes off of it.

She was saved from drowning in that awful feeling as the white haired woman spoke. The shadow slowly moved and connected with Kaguya.

"Of course child, perhaps we shall meet again." The candles all flicker out drowning Naruko in the darkness. The eye disappeared for an instant only to reappear where Kaguya was, right where her forehead would have been. The eye was still staring at her. Slowly it started to grow as the tapestries rattled on the walls. Naruko closed her eyes, hoping to escape this place.

* * *

Her eyes snapped open and she found herself in the real world once more. Kurenai-sensei was looking at her in concern, about what? She didn't know.

"So what happened, did you figure anything out?"

"I think I just need to use my instinct and it will happen." She didn't want to tell anyone but Hina-chan about what she saw yet. Who knew how the Hokage would react if he found out. "How long was I out?"

"It just hit the thirty minute mark, Hinata should be arriving for her lesson soon. We'll talk about this more later, okay? I don't want you trying to use your kekkei genkai until we know you can control it." Naruko understood why, if her kekkei genkai forcefully drained chakra then she had the potential to kill an ally by using it accidentally. "Go check training ground 23 to see if Sasuke is there, if he is you can decide if you want to take my advice or go home." Naruko nods and heads out. She smiles as she sees her girlfriend entering the training ground.

* * *

Hinata smiles as she walks by Naru-chan. She playfully bumps her shoulder and continues on, once she passes her face turns serious. She walks right up to Kurenai-sensei and stands there silently. After several minutes of silence Kurenai-sensei speaks first. "Alright what's the problem."

"If you knew who Naru-chan was, if you knew her mother and became our sensei just to teach her. Why were you not there for her as a child? Why did she have to grow up being abused when you should have been there to take care of her?"

"I was there for her."

"Don't you lie to me! She was in the orphanage for years before being given an apartment, and the fact that she and I have never seen you even on even her birthdays means you weren't there!" Hinata was glaring fiercely at her.

"I was afraid of that, she really doesn't remember me then." Kurenai's tone was one of sorrow. "I raised Naruko until she was three years old."

"Then why was she in the orphanage?"

"The Hokage ordered that I stop taking care of her."

"And you followed that order?" Hinata would never follow an order like that, if the Hokage ordered her to stop dating Naru-chan she would become a missing-nin sooner than that.

"Not at first, I was just sixteen at the time when I started to care for Naruko. But there was a condition for it. I was one of the leafs most promising Chunin at the time and he didn't want raising a child to interfere with my growth, so he said that if I failed a single mission then he would place her in an orphanage."

"And you put your career ahead of her?!" Hinata was only growing more upset.

"Of course not, it had been fine for the first few years, I had been successful and had still found time to be with her and care for her. But as I grew more skillful it was harder. I was away from the village for longer stretches of time, I had friends to help while I was gone but it was never enough, they were equally busy. That same year things started to go wrong, Rin, one of the people helping me had been made the hospitals director and she suddenly found herself unable to help, and Kakashi had been made an Anbu captain so I had to start relying on other people."

"That still doesn't explain why."

"It was around that time I started seeing my boyfriend, he had been good with Naruko and seemed perfectly capable of caring for her when I couldn't be there. But he wasn't a baby sitter or a friend of Kushina-sensei or Naruko's father. He helped because he cared for me, not for her. So I tried to take our relationship seriously." Kurenai-sensei paused for a few moments. "That was a mistake. I couldn't split my time three ways and things fell apart. It only took a year before I slipped up on a mission and Hokage-sama took her away. I didn't fight it at the time because I had noticed Naruko had started to seem agitated at home, likely because she wasn't getting enough care, even with Asuma's help. So before things got worse and she had a chance to be neglected I let Hokage-sama take her away. But he promised me that I could take care of her again if I reached the rank of Elite Jonin. Of course by that time I made it she was just about to graduate and I didn't think she would accept some stranger offering her a home. So I asked him to change our agreement and now here I am, as her sensei."

"You didn't think things would go so poorly did you? Why did you not visit her at all? Was that also part of the agreement?"

"No I had no idea the orphanage would treat her so poorly, I had thought Hokage-sama would ensure she was treated well. And yes I was forbidden from visiting her, but I did at least support her. You probably don't know the village laws surrounding orphans, but there is no stipend from the village once they move out of the orphanage nor are they provided apartments. Because normally by the time they move out they're adults be it as new Genin or eighteen year old civilians. I've been paying all of her expenses out of pocket for several years now."

"If you were giving her financial support then why would you only barely give her enough to live off of?"

"What do you mean "barely"? I was sending her more than half of my pay from each mission. For a child that should have been enough to live with some extravagance." Kurenai-sensei's expression had darkened. "Oh. Someone has been stealing from Naruko's cut." There was a gleam in the woman's eye, clearly she was plotting the destruction of whoever had been making Naru-chan live in squalor. Hinata would gladly join in on that. The woman seemed to snap out of her thoughts and asked, "Do you know the Lullaby of Takeda? Because if you're still not convinced that I raised her try singing it to her, I bet she can still sing along. It always was her favorite lullaby."

Hinata nods, she was familiar with it. In fact the first time she heard it was from that music box Naru-chan had received from a. . . stranger. Kurenai-sensei was telling the truth, or at least seemed to be. Of course she was no longer boiling in anger at Kurenai-sensei. Instead it was directed at her Hokage and whoever else was in on harming the love of her life.

"You mentioned Asuma, are you referring to Sarutobi Asuma? The Hokage's son?" He was a prominent member of the Hokage's clan so it went without saying that she would know the name as the Hyuuga heiress.

"That's the one."

"How did you two meet?"

"We had been classmates in the Academy, we had always sort of had a thing for each other but it wasn't until he asked me out when I was eighteen that we started seeing each other. Why are you suddenly curious about him?"

"I don't trust anyone connected to the Hokage." How could she? The man was directly responsible for the treatment Naru-chan received from the village. She wouldn't put it past the man to have used his own son as a means to separate Naru-chan and Kurenai-sensei. "It seems suspicious to me that at the same time missions became a problem he asked you out."

"It seems I have some things to look into." If Kurenai-sensei was shaken from the information she hid it well. "Now then why don't we get started on training you. We'll be working on Ninjutsu today."

* * *

The two girls met up again after Hinata was finished with her training, they decided to train combinations together for an extra hour like Kurenai-sensei recommended.

"Hey Hina-chan, I interacted with the demon today, well sort of."

"What do you mean sort of?" Hinata was curious, she hadn't felt the foul chakra so Naru-chan probably didn't use it.

"Well I met a woman inside the seal, she claimed that she and the monster draw power from each other. It was sort of confusing."

Well that was not what Hinata was expecting at all. "Did she say anything else?"

"Well she asked me to free her and die in the process. I told her no." Hinata certainly hoped so, she couldn't bare the thought of her redheaded love dying.

"Hey Naruko are you familiar with the Lullaby of Takeda?" Her conversation with Kurenai-sensei was still on her mind.

"That's the lullaby for the music box right? I've never heard the actual lullaby lyrics before but you know I love the tune." So for sure she didn't know the lyrics. Well she had to test just to be sure, Kurenai-sensei had manipulated them yesterday and she could have done it again today.

"Just try singing along with me if you think you know the words okay?"

"Sure" And with that Hinata begins.

It only took until the second verse of the song for Naru-chan to start singing along, her voice matching the tune of the song perfectly. She looks at her girlfriend bewildered. "Hey how'd you know I somehow knew that song."

"I think you should ask Kurenai-sensei to sing it to you. She might have better answers for you." Hinata wanted to tell the girl, but felt it would be better for both her sensei and her girlfriend to work this out together. With that the two girls fall into a comfortable silence and finish their training together. Once hours past Naruko says.

"I've gotta go meet Kurenai-sensei so she can show me to that friend that knows Kaa-chan's Taijutsu."

"Alright, I'll talk to you tomorrow." As Naruko starts to walk off she thinks of something. "Hey Naru-chan, this Sunday let's go have a picnic. We haven't been on a real date in a while." Naruko turns and smiles at her.

"You just want me to cook for you. But alright, I love going on dates with you Hina-chan."

* * *

Kurenai dropped to the ground with a sigh. She had a few minutes before Naruko arrived and she planned on using it. Had the Hokage really tricked her, had he done something like convincing Asuma to ask her out because he wanted Naruko in the orphanage, which was more directly under his influence, now that she thought of it.

The man put on a kind grandfatherly facade but he was a shinobi through and through. She sighed again. Even if he had there was nothing she could do. Plotting against the Hokage would just get her killed and that didn't do anybody any good.

Of course the question still remained, who was taking funds from Naruko? Was it the Hokage? A greedy banker? Her thoughts turned to Hinata's words. Asuma was a potential candidate. But he had always been so good to Naruko when she was little, it couldn't be him. Of course her heart may just break if it was. Seeing red out of the corner of her eye she stood and dusted herself off.

"Let's go introduce you to my teammate. He's a bit strange, but he's the best Taijutsu expert in Konoha and he knows your mothers style better than any living person."

Naruko smiled at her and Kurenai forced herself to return it. "Let's go Kurenai-sensei!"

* * *

It came as a surprise to many but he hated the dark. He wasn't afraid of it, but he had always enjoyed the warm embrace of the sun. Perhaps people were shocked by this fact because of his unnaturally pale skin. Or perhaps it had simply been because in the past several years he had spent much of his life underground. It was hard to say.

The only people he was sure wouldn't be surprised by his preference were his two teammates. They had been through much together fighting through two wars together. He had been there when his blonde teammate lost her brother, and he had failed to protect her fiance. He had never truly rid himself of that guilt. He had never cared for the man, but he had cared for her like a sister and he had let that mans death tear her apart. People liked to think that his team fell apart the moment that he took an interest in science and researching Jutsu, but it wasn't. It was the moment he and his white haired teammate failed to save her fiance.

Of course where he had failed to protect the man because of his own ineptitude his white haired teammate had hesitated. He had been in love with the woman and must have had a truly traitorous thought in the moment he had to save the man. If the man died then the blonde could be his. The white haired man had confessed as much to him after the ordeal. Neither man had told the blonde woman. His teammate had left the village after that, became the spymaster Konoha needed. He couldn't bare to face her. The man hadn't even returned until Tsunade-hime had left. Orochimaru on the other hand had turned to the horribly wonderful science that had become his obsession.

It had started with a little bit of advice from his sensei, but it had turned into his own passion. Of course this obsession let him neglect his teammate, who in the after math of her fiances death had no one and ran from the village. She was retroactively given leave from their sensei and had taken to running around fire country in search of alcohol and gambling. Anything to numb the pain. More guilt for him.

Of course if there was anything he was guilty for it was his creation. He had only had two survivors of his experiments. One had been a success but only barely. The other had yet to bare fruit. He regretted his actions. It wasn't right to treat his own student like that. He had abducted her, taken her out of the village and performed horrible experiments on her. And then he wiped her memory. All she knew was that she disappeared for some time.

He hadn't done it out of malice. He had been told it was critical for the village to perform the experiments. He had done so, he hadn't expected for his previous experiments to be found while he was conducting his current one. The blame had been pinned solely on him and he had to flee. He didn't even get a chance to see if his student survived. Even if she did there was a chance the true subject of the experiment wouldn't. He hoped it did, he didn't want to force that tragedy on his student. She deserved to be happy, she had already lost her best friend only a few months prior.

Well he would find out, he still needed to pay his sensei back for his betrayal, he would take the chance to visit if he could. He hoped she didn't hate him. She never would find out just how much she meant to him. He often saw her like the daughter he didn't have. Perhaps in another universe things would have gone better. But he had made his mistakes. He would live with them and he would die by them.

* * *

A/N So I actually finished this chapter before I even uploaded chapter 5 so yay for being ahead of schedule. In fact I've finished writing chapter 7 and just need to edit it. If everything goes according to plan then chapter 7 will be out on friday and chapter 8 will be out next Wednesday, but that will only happen if I've finished editing 7 and writing 8 by friday, so that remains to be seen. So anyways a lot happened this chapter. Naruko learned a bit more about Kushina, met Kaguya, and Hinata found out about Kurenai's connection to Naruko. If you read the original you might notice that the scene with the chakra paper has been made pretty different, the main thing being that Naruko now only has Suiton and Futon, rather than all five like I originally had written. I don't quite remember why I had chosen I think it had something to do with the Juubi or Kaguya but I didn't end up using that fact and have no plans to do so moving forward so I changed away from the overdone trope.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, thanks a lot to everyone for reading and I'll see you all in the next one.

Also as an FYI I respond to reviews via PM so if you've left a review and feel like I never address the things you talk about consider checking you inbox on FFN, there are good odds that a response is there.

So now for real, I'll see you in the next one.

CM 02/12/2020


	7. Fate and a Date

"So Kurenai-sensei, who is this friend of yours?"

Kurenai looks at her redheaded student as they make their way to training ground 38, where he typically can be found training with his team. "He was one of my teammates. A fair warning however, he's a bit . . . eccentric" That was an understatement, to say the least. Most thought the man had lost his marbles years ago. But he was undeniably strong and he did in fact still have his sanity (well as sane as any ninja can be). He was an S-rank nin for a good reason and is practically unmatched in Taijutsu. Not to mention he had never once failed to be their for his teammates. Truly the man had a heart of gold.

"Kurenai-sensei I think most of the ninja in this village are eccentric." Kurenai chuckled, she wasn't wrong that much was for certain. Perhaps something about being strong made people become weirdos. It was hard to say.

"Do I fall into that category?" The red eyed woman says quirking an eyebrow. Naruko gestures to her and says.

"You wear sealing scrolls as clothes." She had no argument against that. Sure she wore mesh armor underneath, but it didn't change the fact that her manner of dressing was strange. But it was convenient.

"Point taken."

"Oh yeah, Hina-chan sung me a lullaby and said I should ask you about it. Do you know anything about it?" Kurenai's breath hitches. She wasn't ready for this at all. She loved the girl like a little sister but she wasn't mentally ready to let the girl know personally how deeply she failed her.

"We, uh, should talk about it later, see we're here." She says as they step into the training ground. She winces as she hears the impassioned cries of her teammates favorite phrase. Of course it wasn't her teammates voice.

"Youth!" Naruko looked thoroughly confused by the sound, Kurenai didn't blame her, it was a natural response to Gai. "Gai-sensei!"

* * *

Naruko followed behind Kurenai-sensei while lost in thought. It was odd she sort of recognized the way that person yelled about 'Youth' but she couldn't really recall where she had heard it. She is snapped out of her thoughts as she sees the strangest combination of people she had ever seen, she also realized she recognized two of them, one better than the other. The first she recognized was Hyuuga Neji, Hina-chan's cousin. He had long brown hair, and wore the Konoha forehead protector over his forehead. She wonders if he just prefers it there or if he's covering the caged bird seal. He was also wearing black ninja pants and sandals, along with a beige jacket.

The other person she recognized seemed to have split in two. It was the weird green guy who told her about her abnormal weights. He had black hair styled in a bowl cut. In addition to that he was wearing green spandex and had the Jonin flak vest. He was also wearing orange leg warmers. He had the largest eyebrows she had ever seen. Were they alive? Oddly enough when he smiled his teeth seemed to twinkle.

He also had a smaller version of himself that had a softer face and larger eyes. Along with that he didn't have a flak vest of any kind so he was likely a Genin. Both men had their for head protectors around their waist like she did. Only they had a longer version of the standard cloth rather than a custom sash like she did.

If asked Naruko would have to say the last person was the weirdest of all. She had brown hair tied into two buns that kind of gave her the appearance of a panda. On top of that she was wearing clothing foreign to Konoha with a pink tang shirt. But the odd thing was she reminded Naruko eerily of the bland kids from her class. It's like she had somehow retained that blandness while also making herself stand out. She didn't understand how someone be so unremarkable but also be so easy to distinguish at the same time. The girl was a paradox and Naruko didn't like it.

The Jonin seemed to notice them and turned. "Kurenai! It's great to see you my most youthful friend!" The man seemed to only know how to shout. Naruko could have sworn the eyebrows seemed to be moving on their own.

"It's good to see you too Gai, we should really catch up sometime, maybe over coffee. But I'm actually here to introduce you to my student." She says gesturing to the redhead. Gai looked towards her and his eyes seem to light up in recognition. He smiles at her, his teeth twinkles and he gives her a thumbs up. Guess he remembers her too then. He had helped her in the early stages of her training and it had really set her on a better trajectory than trying to stick with Academy Taijutsu. Of course she didn't really have a style right now, but it was better than one that was actively harmful.

"I've already met the most youthful Naruko-san she's only grown more like her mother." Naruko had to remind herself that he was Kurenai-sensei's teammate so of course he knew her mother too. Maybe that was why he had bothered to help her back then, he knew and wanted to do what he could. She appreciated that.

"I didn't realize you two were acquainted." Kurenai-sensei was probably surprised. Naruko speaks up in response.

"I met the weird green guy, I think you called him Gai, about a year ago while running laps around the village. He had also told me about my weights being abnormally high, at least in comparison to most ninja. Helped me figure out that my stances were wrong too." Kurenai nods and says.

"Well Gai, we're here to see if you'd be willing to show her the basic forms of Uzuken and Uzuashi." From the way Kurenai-sensei had told it to her, the Uzumaki Taijutsu style was two fold, there was the Uzuken, which focused on the use of the upper body in combat. Then there was the Uzuashi which focused on the lower body. Each one was formidable on it's own but it was the strongest when both styles were put in practice together. Apparently Gai had taken much inspiration for his style from the basic principles of the Uzuken and a few minor principles from the Uzuashi.

"Yosh! I would be honored to teach young Naruko-san her mother's style! And if I cannot do so then I will run around Konoha with only my hands and 1 ton strapped to each leg! And if-" Naruko blinked, that sounded absurd even by her own weird standards. She got the strangest feeling that he would do it anyways. He seemed like the type who trained for fun.

"Don't worry Gai, if anyone could teach her the style it's you."

"Come Naruko-san, join my team and I in our exercises, we were just about to climb the Hokage Monument with only one hand. Once that's done I'll teach you the first form of each style." Naruko nods. It will probably be hell, even for her, but apparently this style suits her. And somewhere deep inside she has to admit it also connects her with her Kaa-chan, which made her happier than she would readily admit.

"Gai-sensei, why are you wasting time on this failure?" It was Neji who spoke up.

"Neji-kun it will never be a waste of my time to help those seeking to improve themselves."

"She is weak and she is fated to always be weak." This earns the ire of Kurenai-sensei who speaks up with a scathing voice.

"Gai what are you doing Saturday, because I was wondering if perhaps you'd like to have a little tournament between our two teams, if only so your Genin would put his money where his mouth is." Ooh would she finally get a chance to kick Neji's teeth in for insulting Hina-chan so much? This would be great!

"That sounds most youthful! We can work out the details over coffee later. Now come we have a monument to climb." Without another word the group of five leave Kurenai-sensei at the training ground. Naruko waves good bye and prepares herself, she had training to do.

* * *

Gai sipped the coffee and grimaced. He hated the taste. Of course he knew damn well that his teammates did too. Kushina-sensei hated coffee and had passed that hatred down to her students with a passion. But she had also used it to teach a code unique to her team. It was simple really, they just used common things as stand ins for other meanings. Things that Kushina-sensei didn't like were used to represent code for various bad things that need to be kept secret. Things that she did were used for good things. So since Kushina-sensei despised coffee they had started to use it as a stand in for something bad happening to someone they cared about. The last time they had brought it up was when Yugao needed advice after Itachi betrayed the village.

Gai and Kurenai sat across from one another in the woman's apartment. After several moments of silence Gai finally speaks up. "You know Asuma-san might get jealous if he found out you invited another man into your home, even if we are old friends."

"Depending on what happens in the near future I might break up with him."

"Oh is that what's troubling you?" He didn't think that was the case, Kurenai always went to either Anko or Yugao if she was having relationship issues. Of course he would always be a shoulder for her to lean on, but he wasn't the gentle type and he wasn't so good at giving answers and soothing, instead he was the type to suggest they just work off their stress, and maybe go tackle the problem head on. They may be ninja but they didn't need to be ninja at all times, and that included while handling relationship issues.

"No, not him specifically, but he could be part of the problem."

"So then what is the problem?"

"Someone has been stealing most the money I've been sending Naruko."

"What?" That couldn't possibly be right. The thought itself was repulsive. He had to have heard incorrectly.

"You heard me, someone has been making sure Naruko barely gets enough money to survive, while pocketing the rest of my money."

Gai couldn't believe it, He knew how much of Kurenai's money was being sent to the girl. The woman as an Elite Jonin could have afforded much more than the modest life style she's living. She had instead chosen to live a spartan lifestyle so the redhead could live comfortably. This was most unyouthful.

"Do you have any idea who?"

"It's most likely someone in the process of moving the money, so either Hokage-sama or whoever brings the money to Naruko."

"Remind me how does Asuma-san play into that?"

"Hokage-sama often has him drop off the money as he claims his son wouldn't mess with it because of our relationship." She couldn't choose who drops off the money as otherwise she would do it herself or have Anko, who had never been banned from the child but also never had a personal connection, do it. He knew as much, it was the same reason he himself was barred from doing so. Kurenai paused for a moment and continued. "I've also been given reason to believe that Hokage-sama incited Asuma into dating me so I would lose Naruko." He felt an ugly feeling start to brew in his gut. He knew it well. It was raw hate. If what she said was true then the man not only used his teammate and had been doing so for years but then his own Kage had gone much farther in Naruko's suffering than he initially thought. Farther than he was willing to grit his teeth and accept.

"So we have two known suspects along with whoever Hokage-sama gets to do it when Asuma-san isn't here." His expression was grim, this was serious. Someone had been going out of their way to screw both Kurenai and Naruko over. "Next time you deliver the ryo to Hokage-sama I will watch for the package. What should I look for?"

"It will be a red envelope. I'll be delivering it directly to Hokage-sama on Monday. That's our time frame." Gai nods, they would catch whoever has been appropriating his friends funds.

"What do you want to do about the possibility that the Hokage had him ask you out? That will be far harder to prove."

Kurenai shook her head and looked at him ruefully. "If he is the one who's been stealing from Naruko then that is proof enough."

He raised an eyebrow and waited for her to continue. After a moment she did, "He seemed like he got along with Naruko as a child, if he's been stealing then that was false. And then it would have been done as a way to get close to me."

"He could still be a rat, that alone doesn't prove the Hokage's involvement." Even if they both would choose to believe it did.

"We hadn't spoken in years, he asked me out right after I started getting tougher missions. Even if we prove this is true it doesn't matter. The Hokage won't care. We can't do anything as loyal ninja."

They both knew it. Even if the man screwed them over he had absolute power. No one would side with them if they called for justice against the Hokage. Maybe if it involved someone other that Naruko, but it did involve Naruko. At the very least they could cut off Asuma if he's really the culprit. Either way the true culprit (assuming it's not the Hokage) would face justice, that much was inescapable.

"We'll get to the bottom of this, Kurenai."

"Thank you."

* * *

As it turned out using a janky style of Taijutsu that wasn't really a style at all hurt her ability to learn her mothers style. She hadn't realized it but she had developed a lot of bad habits that needed to be removed first before she could even start on either the Uzuken or Uzuashi (she had wrongly assumed that she wouldn't have to many negatives thanks to not practicing the Academy style). She had also been told not to increase her weights anymore than she currently has. Apparently the type of strength gained from weights doesn't greatly benefit the style and it would be better if she used resistance seals. When she said she couldn't afford them Gai merely stated he would make them for her free of charge.

So Gai simply asked her for something she would be fine with him drawing the seals on. As long as the object with the seal was connected to her then her whole body would feel like she's wading through mud. She was told once it felt like she was walking around normally again she should put chakra into the seal until it felt like wading through mud once more. After much deliberation she decided to have him draw it on the spiral charm attached to her hair senbon. He had also recommended that because movement will noticeably change for her she should practice transitioning between the seal being active and inactive. There was the added benefit that if she struck an enemy with it the surprise of the change in speed (on both ends) could be enough to end a fight.

And so the rest of the week passed by relatively uneventfully. They kept doing D-ranks, which Naruko still found enjoyable. And as ordered they had taken turns bringing lunch for everyone. It had been weird feeling like she was wading through mud all the time. It still felt weird frankly, but at least she would get both faster and stronger from this. She had also learned how to do her hair on her own now so that was good. Although truth be told she still liked letting Hina-chan do it, it was just one more way to bond with her girlfriend.

When Saturday rolled around she was wondering just how Kurenai-sensei was going to have the two teams fight each other. She had met up with her girlfriend and Sasuke and they simply talked about how their mornings had been. It was mundane but Naruko always enjoyed the feeling of being normal.

* * *

"I'm looking forward to our date tomorrow."

"Are you sure you're not just looking forward to my cooking?"

"I always look forward to your cooking. But in this case I'm looking forward to some time alone between the two us." Hinata meant it, the last time they had anything resembling truly private time was after graduating but that got interrupted by Mizuki defecting. Her thoughts turn negative as she considers what she had overheard last night, she hadn't gotten a good opportunity to tell Naru-chan yet, she would do so during their date tomorrow for sure. Even if it meant ruining the mood.

Before the two girls can continue discussing their date, Kurenai-sensei appears in the training ground with a Jonin she didn't recognize. They don't say anything until a minute later when his Genin arrive. Hinata had no idea what to make of the man. He definitely had that same aura of danger that most other Jonin had, but he was hand down the most absurd looking of the bunch. A few minutes later and the mans Genin arrive. Hinata sighs in annoyance at the sight of her cousin. Of course he was here. Along with him was clearly the Jonin's protege if his choice of clothes were anything to go by. And then a fairly average looking Kunoichi. Hinata noted with amusement that Naru-chan seemed most put off by the Kunoichi. She knew how her girlfriend felt about bland people, but Hinata suspected that it was intentional on the Kunoichi's part. She was constantly ready to blend into a crowd and that worked to her benefit. Of course when she looks average and is surrounded by more outlandish people then she is the one who ends up sticking out.

Kurenai speaks, "As I told you all before, on Saturdays we will be doing actual mock battles. Today you'll be up against another Genin team. Meet last years Team 3 now simply known as Team Gai." She gestures from right to left. "This is Tenten, Rock Lee, and Hyuuga Neji. Today you will be fighting in a team battle. As per our usual rules for sparring fight to kill, unless your opponent is already incapacitated, Gai and I will interrupt any killing blows long before they can land. Any questions?"

"Is the objective just to incapacitate the other team?"

"Yes, for today there is no hidden goal. If there are no other questions then begin." With that the two Jonin leap backward and out of the way.

* * *

Sasuke starts to fly through the hand seals for the Fire Style: Grand Fireball but he is unable to complete them as an orange leg warmer comes sailing toward his face. Before it can connect he finds his white eyed teammate blocking it with her arm guards. "You should activate your Sharingan sooner rather than later." She already had her Byakugan blazing. He nods and his eyes bleed red as the world slows around him. Lee had jumped back, just on time to avoid a kick to the head by the Uzumaki.

The three had unfortunately ended up grouping up perfectly for Tenten to unleash a hail of kunai and shuriken at them. The three dodge easy enough and Naruko calls, "Just defend me for three seconds." The other two nod and deflect the kunai being aimed at Naruko. Hinata turns and deflects a Jyuken strike aimed at her heart. She had seen her cousin moving into position a while ago. She fires back with one of her own that he also deflects. Hinata quickly finds herself stuck between a rock and a hard place as she blocks both kunai and Jyuken strikes at the same time.

"Sasuke, Lee is trying to move past you."

"On it!" He turns and dashes toward the older boy. Blocking his strike that was aimed at Naruko's temple. His arm stung just from blocking. "Wow you pack a punch." His block comes just on time too as she finishes her hand seals.

"Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique." Lee and Tenten stop moving at the same time both falling prey to the Genjutsu. Sasuke holds a kunai up to Lee's throat. Gai appears and takes him away, good. Things were starting to swing their way.

"Naruko why are you taking longer to cast Jutsu now? You cast that almost instantly before."

"It's the new resistance seals, they make my whole body have to work harder to move properly and that includes my hands." Sasuke nods, that made sense and things worked out for now. "Now, do you think you can handle Tenten while I help Hina-chan with Neji?" The raven haired boy nods and rushes off towards the girl who had just broken the Genjutsu.

* * *

"It's no use Hinata-sama even in a two on three a team comprised of two failures will never be able to match me, it is fated for you to lose. And you are in my range of Divination." Of course he was also in hers and she easily blocked each of his strikes.

"Neji-niisan, you do realize I could activate your seal at any time and win this instantly correct? If I truly cared about winning this fight it would already be over." It was the truth, she had already learned how to activate the caged bird seal, she just never did so because she thought it an unnecessarily cruelty. She would be quite the hypocrite if she claimed she wanted to do something about that miserable seal only to then use it.

"You refuse to activate the seal because you are too weak to do so. To be a real ninja." The boy was delusional, she had graduated Rookie of the Year just as he had and she had already started to learn the Kaiten. If he thought she was weak then he was sorely mistaken. The boy turns on a dime and blocks Naru-chan's kick. Just as Hinata had seen him earlier he had seen her. "You cannot even fight me alone."

"It's not that I cannot, it's that we are ninja and ninja do not fight fair. That is what a real ninja would do. The only reason I don't activate your seal is because I have no interest in ruining your career." The boy sneers as he hears her throw his words back at him. He quickly finds he can't handle the two on one fight. It was to be expected. She and Naru-chan had spent years perfecting their teamwork and both had ample time to learn how to fight a Hyuuga. Neji had failed to recognize the fact that he's outgunned and is losing because of it.

She watches as he pivots and moves to attack Naru-chan. She had no doubt that Naru-chan would be able to dodge even with the seals and so Hinata quickly lashes out with her own strike towards his heart. It fails to connect as Gai pulls him out of the way. Neji turns his gaze towards Gai in anger and confusion.

"You lost Neji." Neji looks even more confused before he notices her hand mere inches away from where his heart would have been. She stares at him, no fear or remorse. He was her cousin and she cared for him, but she wouldn't hold back against him. Well technically she had by not using the seal."You got frustrated and stopped paying attention to your enemies. More than that you underestimated them. It was most unyouthful of you."

Hinata turned her attention to Sasuke as he continued to push Tenten back. He was handling himself fairly well. She couldn't help but chuckle when she saw him being so protective of his hand. He seemed to be a bit scarred by Kunoichis wielding swords. She pushed the thought aside as she rushed forward. She recognized the hand seals Naru-chan was using and she was going to capitalize on it. Tenten never saw her coming as she quickly disabled her arms and legs. Finally Kurenai-sensei called the match.

* * *

"Alright Team 7 wins. That was excellent work you three, it's not easy to defeat someone older and more experienced than you. But don't let this go to your head. You would have been in a lot more trouble if Lee hadn't fallen to Naruko's Genjutsu." She wasn't going to lectures Gai's Genin on what they did right and wrong, she'd leave that to the man himself. He is more familiar with their strengths and weaknesses anyways. "Thanks for agreeing to coming here today Gai, I think this has helped my Genin greatly." The man nods and gathers up his own team. She watched as they left. Kurenai had to resist the urge to feel smug as she saw the anger on the Hyuuga's face. Hopefully it would put his attitude in check.

"Now you three, before I explain what you did wrong during the fight I want to know if any of you can tell me."

"We shouldn't have grouped up in the beginning. That would have been much more deadly had we been against a team with an area of effect attack. The closest they had to that was Tenten's kunai storm and that was only barely an AOE." Kurenai nods, her redheaded student was completely right.

"We also shouldn't have vocalized our plan about Naruko's Genjutsu or should have used a code word for protect her. They could hear her ask for time so they knew they needed to target her."

"Very true Sasuke, that's an issue we'll be working on when we do team training on Monday. It's important for you guys to develop your own code between each other so that enemy nin will have a harder time knowing how to infiltrate the group. My team and I still have code we use to this day. Even though all of us have long since made Jonin." Of course Yugao wasn't in the public eye anymore, most the time, she wasn't an Anbu captain to be famous.

"When Naru-chan and I were both fighting Neji-niisan we stood side by side rather than going to either side of him. While the Byakugan would have let him see both of us he still would have had to work harder to actually block both of us."

"Another good point, unless you are doing a combination Jutsu or something similar you three should always be opposite each other with an enemy in the middle, assuming you're fighting only one. It will make fighting much harder and much more tiring for your opponent. And when that happens they are more likely to make mistakes. We'll discuss individual problems during your one on ones, that being said Sasuke you're up first today."

* * *

Naruko had her hair down for the first time in several days. She loved the hair senbon Hina-chan had given her but she hadn't realized just how much she enjoys letting her hair fall loose. She had spent the morning getting ready for their date. She wasn't in her usual ninja clothes. She didn't have mesh armor underneath her dress, which went down to her knees unlike her battle dress which went to her mid thighs. She was even wearing a dark black eye liner and matte red lipstick. She didn't usually dress up for their dates, but this was their first date in a while and she wanted to. She had also spent last night making the lunches for their picnic. It was a great time of year for the picnic anyways. It was currently early to mid spring and the flowers around Konoha were all starting to bloom. The weather was perfect.

Three sharp knocks on the door is enough to let the redhead to know her girlfriend has arrived. Hina-chan always knocked in threes (Naruko had a suspicion that her girlfriend had practiced knocking to get it just how she likes). She only has to call, "Enter!" For Hina-chan to know she's not walking around the apartment naked at the moment (it was comfortable what can she say). Her girlfriend was so cute sometimes, well more like all the time, she was weirdly intent on giving her privacy when she's nude. Naruko didn't really get it, she knew the girl wanted to look but for some reason she just refused to. Hina-chan walks through the door and Naruko smiles (she had given Hina-chan a key to her apartment years ago). "You look amazing, well more than usual."

The other girl was also in a dress, it was far more rare for the lavender themed girl to do so. She notices her girlfriend wasn't wearing makeup, but that's okay. She always thought Hina-chan had this ethereal beauty about her. The taller girl was wearing a lavender colored dress with the Hyuuga clan crest emblazoned on the back. It contrasted nicely with Naruko's own navy blue dress with an orange obi.

"You look gorgeous as always." The white eyed girl walked up and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "You ready to go?" Naruko was admittedly a bit satisfied to see some of her lipstick come off on Hina-chan. Something about it warmed her heart.

"Yep, just let me grab the basket and we can be on our way." It wasn't like it was far, just a few steps away. She returns quickly and they made their way out of the apartment, with Naruko locking the door behind her. "So where did you have in mind for the picnic?" Hina-chan only ever asked for picnics when she wanted to enjoy a specific part of Konoha's scenery.

"Do you remember that waterfall, behind the Hokage Monument, we found a few years back? I was thinking with weather like this it would be great."

"Maybe I should have grabbed a swimsuit, sounds like we should go for a swim after we eat."

"You could always skinny dip, I can pretty easily make sure there are no voyeurs."

"Yeah but then you might just faint." Naruko doubted she would. Hina-chan had only done that once when accidentally seeing her naked. And to be fair it wasn't entirely because she was naked. Hina-chan had been doing some intense training that day and was already tired and dehydrated. So when she saw her and the blood went to her head it was to much and she fainted. The other rare times Hina-chan had seen her nude (always by accident) had certainly made the girl blush. Naruko didn't really understand it, couldn't her girlfriend just use the Byakugan to peak? Surely if she enjoys the sight of her body that much then she could. It's not like Naruko would mind or even know most the time. But Hina-chan was adamant about not peaking until she was fully confident Naruko was ready.

Naruko had claimed she was ready numerous times, but Hina-chan always said that was because she was more interested in pleasing her than keeping her own emotional well being safe. She wasn't exactly wrong, so Naruko never argued it.

"Fair point. And don't worry I thought you might want to swim so I brought swimsuits for the two of us in a sealing scroll." Even if they weren't on duty they were still ninja, and still had access to the equipment that made life so much easier. Why would they not take a sealing scroll when it could fit far more than some ridiculous civilian good like a purse.

"Ah I see, you wanted to pick out a swimsuit for me to wear and show off for you." Naruko was teasing her, they both knew it. Of course she suspected that there was some truth to the statement. Hina-chan wouldn't prepare a swimsuit that she wouldn't want to see her in, even if she didn't necessarily want Naruko to show off. Naruko had no doubt that it would fit, she always made sure Hina-chan knew her three sizes since the girl liked to gift her clothes so much, it was more convenient than having to return gifts because of some stubborn embarrassment about her proportions.

"Naru-chan if anyone can show off between the two of us it's me." Naruko had to concede that point. While Hina-chan may have liked the fact that Naruko had a smaller physique, the other girl, undeniably, was already starting to fill out like a grown woman. But she guesses that's just puberty, they're all growing and developing differently. It's not like she really cared to have a curvy figure. In fact the only reason she really cared about her body image was because she wanted her girlfriend to like her figure. Otherwise she would probably wear baggy clothes all the time. Well she still likes dresses. They're just so fluttery. But it was nice some times to wear clothes that were far to big on her. It gave her a similar feeling to burying herself under a mountain of blankets. It was just so comfortable.

The two girls continue to make idle chatter until they reach the waterfall. And the river it flows into. It was right on the edge of Konoha's northern border. The wall was only half an hour north. The waterfall was as beautiful as they remember it. It's water was a crystal blue that shimmered nicely in the late morning light.

They sit down next to the bank of the river, the waterfall roaring quietly in the background. Naruko had prepared them sandwiches along with packing in fruits and a thermos full of green tea. She had also packed a surprise for Hina-chan.

* * *

Hinata for her part unseals a blanket for them to sit, or lay, down on. She can't help but notice something extra nice smelling coming from the picnic basket. Naru-chan noticing her expression says.

"I don't think I have it perfect yet but I thought you might enjoy the fruits of my labor." And with that she pulls out a cinnamon roll. "I've been practicing making them since I know they're your favorite." She was going to keep explaining but her Hinata interrupted her girlfriend to maul her lips with her own. What can she say, she just made her day. Hinata of course loved her cinnamon rolls, but she loved the fact that Naru-chan had gone out of way to learn for her far more. Whether she succeeded or not only mattered a little (cinnamon rolls still deserve to be enjoyed) the gesture was much more important to her.

Naru-chan breaks away gasping for breath. "I thought you would be happy but not that happy."

"My favorite person made my favorite food, and by the sounds of it with a lot of effort. Of course I'd be more than happy." Hinata moves in to kiss her again but Naru-chan says.

"Well if you want to eat it while it's still warm then you'll have put off kissing me for a bit." Hinata felt torn. On the one hand Naru-chan's oh so soft lips were calling her own. But on the other hand the wonder that is her girlfriends home cooked cinnamon roll was begging to be eaten while it was still warm. She sighs and goes for the roll, eliciting a laugh from the redhead. Her moan of delight as she tastes the food is enough to make Naru-chan blush. And the girl says she still doesn't have it perfected? She could only imagine how amazing that would be.

The two girls fall into a comfortable silence while eating. It's not that they didn't usually talk while eating or on dates, but they were just enjoying the sounds of the waterfall and each others company. And that was enough. Meal finished they decide to go for that swim.

Naru-chan didn't even have to ask if Hinata would make sure no one was spying on them, the girl was doing so the moment they decided to get changed. Though she did have to focus all her attention any place other than the naked girl she could still see behind her. It was easier when she focused on getting changed herself.

* * *

Naruko looked down at the bathing suit Hina-chan had pulled out of the scroll for her. It was a red one piece swimsuit that was otherwise fairly plain. Though she did notice it showed a bit of her stomach and back. She quickly puts it on and finds it fits her quite nicely. When she turns around she finds her girlfriend in a bikini, which was surprisingly black (a color she hadn't seen Hina-chan wear very much). It contrasted rather nicely with the girls pale skin. Her hair was also hanging loose for once, instead of the usual braid that went down to her shoulders. It seems they were both letting their hair down today.

"You ready Hina-chan?" Naruko asks with a gleam in her eyes. Speaking of she just realized her make up is going to run, but that's not a big deal to her. If she had known they would be swimming she wouldn't have bothered, or put on something water proof. Well Hina-chan likely wouldn't care to much, but Naruko made a mental note of it.

* * *

"Naru-" She can't even finish her thought as the other girl scoops her up and dives into the river. Well she called it a river, it'd be more apt to call it a stream. Just deep enough for them to swim through but not moving so fast that they would be washed down stream. Naru-chan let's her go underwater and she rises up above the surface and levels an unimpressed stare at her girlfriend. Then she smiles and splashes the shorter girl.

They were here to play in the water, why would she be mad about getting in (Although it was a little cold, but that was no real issue)? Her thoughts are interrupted as a veritable wall of water comes rushing at her. Right her girlfriend wasn't wearing weights or resistance seals today, she was far stronger than usual. Well two can play at that game.

She performs a quick and imperfect Kaiten. She still didn't have it down enough to repel other people or Jutsu or even kunai, but she could at least repel a bunch of water that's not augmented by chakra. When she stops spinning she finds her girlfriends lips crashing into her own. She should take Naru-chan out more often this was great! She pushes back the dark thoughts that threaten to surface. She was here to enjoy her date.

The two girls fall into a relaxing rhythm of just swimming around, playing, and making out. Every now and then Hinata would pulse her Byakugan just because she wanted to make sure this stays private. She never found anyone so she assumed it was fine.

* * *

It's about an hour later that the two girls get out of the water. They halfheartedly dry off then lay down on the blanket. It would be more accurate to say the two girls were cuddling, with Naruko resting her head on the other girls shoulder. She was trying to make conversation but Hina-chan wasn't responding.

Something was obviously wrong and she would get to the bottom of it. Her first priority is and always will be Hina-chan's happiness, so to see her mood so obviously sour meant there was only one thing to do. Ask what's going on.

"What's wrong Hina-chan?" It wasn't the most tactful way to go about it but the redhead wasn't really known for her tact.

* * *

"I can't hide anything from you." Naru-chan doesn't say anything, she merely waits for her to say what's on her mind. "I overheard Otou-sama and the elders speaking the other day." Well not so much as overhearing but more like she was reading their lips and spying with her Byakugan. She didn't tell them her true range for this exact reason, they wouldn't hesitate to move behind her back if they thought she was weaker than she is. "They want to make me available to suitors when I become a Chunin." Or when she turns sixteen, but they saw her talent and figured that Chunin would come sooner.

"So are you saying I should start formally courting you when you become a Chunin?" Hinata smiled weakly, she would love that, but she knew it would work.

"I certainly wouldn't mind, but more to the point they plan on making me end my, "dealings," with you." She says spitting the word 'dealings' like it's toxic. She knew they had only accepted her friendship (and they had never accepted the relationship) with the redhead for the power the girl could provide as a "demon." But they had also figured out that since Hinata won the majority of their spars the "demon" wasn't as useful as they thought. They knew of her relationship but to them it was just some sort of teenage angst and something she would gladly move past for the good of the clan (or they would forcefully if she didn't comply). "According to them it wouldn't be proper for the heiress to be having an affair."

"Why can they not just let our relationship be?" Hinata sighed. If Naru-chan wasn't the demons container, they may have let it slide. They would have been against her marrying a commoner and an orphan at that, but they would have grudgingly accepted it under the condition that she allows a member of the clan to father their child. She wouldn't have liked it but she could have accepted it. But unfortunately Naru-chan was an orphan, a commoner, and the demon container. Well she was a member of a clan but it held no political power anymore and was functionally the same as being a commoner.

"Because I'm the heiress and future head of the clan. Not only are we both women so we can't produce a future child to head the clan, but you are not a noble, a member of the clan, or someone of high status. So to them my marrying you would be worthless." They of course couldn't care less about her own happiness.

"Can you not just leave the clan?"

"No, the Hyuuga clan is the most powerful clan in Konoha. The only way I could leave is if I leave the village." The pull of the clan would be enough for the Hokage to not legalize her own emancipation.

"Then lets just leave." They both knew Naru-chan had zero loyalty to the village, she only cared about a few people within, and stayed exclusively for them. She had lied to the Hokage's face when he asked if she was loyal. But what was she going to do? Tell the military dictator that the girl with a giant demon, that almost destroyed his village, sealed in her gut isn't loyal? That would go great.

The white eyed girl shakes her head. "As much as I would love to I can't, Otou-sama and Kaa-chan would both suffer for it." As would the Ichiraku family, who would likely go bankrupt if the two of them left. "Not to mention there would be hunter nin sent after us." Of course if it really came to it where they were truly exhausted of all other options then they could run. Perhaps she should start looking into getting a skilled assassin to deal with the elders. The branch family had no power and her father wasn't against her relationship. Something to consider then.

"Well what about if you become the clan head before getting married, can't you order the elders to back off?"

"The elders have more power in the clan than they like to let on. Not only that but the only way that could work is if my parents both died a premature death." She loved her parents and that's the last thing she wanted.

* * *

"So then are we breaking up? Because it sounds like we're going to have to anyway." Naruko couldn't even blink before she finds herself pinned under the heiress. The other girl was looking at her fiercely.

"Absolutely not! Whether the elders like it or not you will be my wife, you got that Uzumaki!" Wow this was new, and kind of hot. But also really scary. Did she mention how hot it was? Because Naruko found it stupidly hot. Naruko nods meekly. Wait did Hina-chan just propose? And if so did she just accept? She figured the other girl would be more romantic about it. Well that's okay, she can't imagine marrying anyone else anyways.

Sure she was a little young to be marrying, but she already knew that the only person in the world she could spend her future with was Hina-chan, so there's no real issue to her if it happens. Although she somewhat suspects that Hina-chan didn't think of the implication of what she said in the moment, and was instead just acting on passion.

* * *

Hinata realizes what she just did and feels the heat rise in her cheeks, but before she can justify herself Naruko asks. "So then how are we going to fix this problem?" Hinata still hadn't moved, what could she say, she was kind of enjoying having the older girl under her.

"The only thing I can think of is if I intentionally start losing publicly and more importantly to my little sister. If I throw my skills into question then so too will be the question of who the heiress should be."

"I don't think that will work, it will likely seem to abrupt, unless you intentionally avoid promotions for the next four years and degrade your skills in the public eye during that time." Well it was actually more like three years and eight months, but whose counting? "Not to mention the fact that a field promotion could ruin that."

Naru-chan was right, this plan wouldn't work. The redhead speaks up again. "What if we just assassinate them or frame them for committing treason?" Hinata had thought much the same earlier. Although she hadn't considered the treason angle. Both were risky but she was starting to feel like the benefits were outweighing the negatives.

"How would we frame them for treason?" That would work better than assassination, as it would give her father the chance to finally remove the elders from power and make sure future ones can't control the clan from the shadows.

"I don't know yet, we'll have to figure something out. Maybe we could use Kaguya-san somehow. She had a pair of Byakugan as well and was apparently the demon that attacked the village. There's always a chance your clan knew about her."

"Wait you didn't tell me the woman had a pair of Byakugan."

"Oh, it must have slipped my mind." Hinata didn't know what to think. This makes things much more complicated. But this could work. The elders are required to have read all ancient clan texts, though some were oddly indecipherable to the Byakugan, and if this woman had the Byakugan then there is a chance they knew about her and the demon. It would take tremendous effort and this could still backfire horribly but this might just work. "Hey Hina-chan do you mind getting off me now, I kind of want to go back to cuddling." Oh yeah, she still had the other girl pinned. She grins and says.

"I've got a better idea." She captures the other girls lips and puts the issue behind her for now. In this moment she just wanted to think about the other girl and how much she loved her.

* * *

A month had passed since the two girls date. Hinata had taken to reading through all of the ancient texts, pouring over anything that matches the description of either the demon or the woman it stems from. So far she's been largely unsuccessful, but she had yet to attempt the indecipherable ones (she figured there had to be a secret to those), along with well over half of the ones that are readable.

The team had kept up their training. Hinata had quickly found that her skill in poison had gone up immensely, and much to her chagrin her resistance to poison had as well (there was only so many times she could be poisoned before it got annoying). She had also found out she had an affinity for three elements, those being Suiton, Doton and Raiton. She had been practicing Raiton as Naru-chan was already learning Suiton and it could potentially synergize with the Jyuken. That would require some experimentation. She, like everyone else on the team, had been taught Genjutsu, now knowing the jutsu her girlfriend was so fond of, the Demonic Illusion: Seeing Hell Technique. While she had an affinity for the art thanks to her impressive chakra control she had found she didn't enjoy it much. But it was useful so she learned it.

* * *

Sasuke had found he spent the better part of his ninjutsu practice actually doing chakra control exercises. By the end of the month he had mastered both the tree walking exercise, and the water walking exercise. Once both of those were done he had been giving an exercise that saw him burning leaves over and over and over for the remainder of the month. He had just completed it by burning a leaf until it was ash. He saw the benefit when he found that his flames were much hotter than before. He had also learned the Demonic Illusion: Seeing Hell Technique, as Kurenai-sensei had made him aware of the fact that he could cast Genjutsu through the Sharingan. His appreciation for the art went up when he learned that. He had also found that by unlocking his Sharingan his ability to train properly in the Nagareken, or the flow fist, had gone up considerably. It was a style focused primarily on counters and speed, that used the Sharingan as a tool to predict and react to the opponents moves. He found once he started getting proper practice in Hinata was a little less difficult to face.

Of course beyond all that there was one significantly larger change. He had made friends. He couldn't deny the fact that he considered Naruko and Hinata his friends. He trusted them implicitly and he genuinely enjoyed spending his time with them. He was glad he had opened up to them. Training with them had been far more productive than it ever had been when he was alone.

He was beginning to understand what Kurenai-sensei meant when she said they would be unstoppable together. His strength was much greater than it used to be, but he was confident that with his teammates by his side he would be able to take on far greater challenges then he could alone.

It would only be a matter of time now. He would come for Itachi, and justice will be served.

* * *

Naruko had a weird month. She had learned two more Genjutsu the first being the Demonic Illusion: Cajolery of Glamour which was a genjutsu that was cast orally, it was more or less hypnosis as it made the victim more susceptible to the users will. The second genjutsu was the Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique which placed a Genjutsu on the surroundings to create a false image. Not only that but she had progressed in her Kaa-chan's Taijutsu style as well. She only had the first two forms of each sub-style complete, and no where near mastered, but it was at least better than she had before. She still felt like she was wading through mud all the time thanks to the resistance seals, but she at least wasn't completely debilitated by it anymore.

The weird part came from how Kurenai-sensei had been acting. It was like she suddenly took a really keen interest in her personal life and it was kind of weirding her out. The older woman was usually so strict during training but then when they were alone she was a massive softy and the young girl didn't know what to think. She had also apparently felt the need to give her a bunch of money for no reason. Like she's talking hundreds of thousands of ryo just out of nowhere one day. For a girl that had lived in poverty most of her life it was a strange change to suddenly have more money than she knew what to do with. Apparently she had broken up with her boyfriend of ten years as well. She didn't really get why the woman was happy about that. Naruko would be losing her mind if she broke up with Hina-chan.

The weirdness aside she had also mastered the Suiton exercise she'd been given. She had only just finished it however and hadn't gotten a chance to learn any jutsu for it yet. Oh and she finally started learning Fuinjutsu. Kurenai was only high Chunin in the art but it was enough for her to learn how to make her own sealing and explosive tags. Kurenai-sensei had told her it would likely take a while for her to learn but she seemed to just have an instinctive understanding of the art.

* * *

Kurenai had a busy month. Gai had done as asked and found the culprit. Much to her dismay it had turned out to be Asuma. The man had secretly been pocketing the vast majority of her money. She had gone through many emotions at that. First she felt angry, how could he do that to her?! Then she felt dirty, she had given him so many of her firsts. Then she felt stupid, she had been too blindly in love to think about how he treated Naruko when the girl was young, she was 18 and far more naive back then. And by the time she would have been old enough to notice those days were far behind her. She had sorted out her feelings and then went to the Hokage with Gai as a witness.

He had seemed genuinely surprised by the information. But they both knew Gai was nothing if not honest with him. He still had to check this of course, as was standard procedure. He had quickly sent out Anbu to gather further proof of the discrepancy from Naruko's apartment. Kurenai was more than a little surprised by the results. Apparently Asuma had been going so far as to forge fake documents about the whole farce. It actually made it painfully easy to prove him guilty as it couldn't even be argued that Naruko was just spending the funds poorly or the amount she was receiving was being countered by the village at large.

The Hokage clearly didn't want to go through with Asuma's punishment but he folded and did so. While it's true that the man had absolute power in the village it meant nothing if the entirety of the village suddenly felt like he would betray them at the drop of a hat (even if he would actually do so). So the Hokage ordered Asuma to pay her back with interest. And of the forgeries he was on a temporary probation. He had gotten off easy and everyone knew it, but Kurenai accepted it. She felt a bit relieved to know someone who had been leaching off her and Naruko's lives couldn't anymore.

Kurenai had of course broken up with the man and she had wanted to see him punished further. But he was an Elite Jonin and had been given the privilege of not being sent to prison for his crimes (because they did not directly betray Konoha in any meaningful way). If he was any rank lower, then that would be the case. In some ways it would be argued that his punishment went beyond the payment. Word had spread quickly and by the end of the day every high ranking ninja in the village knew of what he had done. While they may not all like Naruko stealing from another elite was unacceptable. For all intents he had been forced into isolation. Reputation was everything in a ninja village, odd given that secrecy was the name of their game, and his had gone as low as it would go without him defecting outright.

When it was all said and done Kurenai had actually felt pretty good. It was like a weight was off her shoulders for the first time in years. Maybe she'd even accept Anko and Hana's offer for that threesome. Probably not because she wasn't gay or even bi but she didn't have a boyfriend chaining her down and the freedom felt kind of nice. In a way it was almost intoxicating.

Her male Genin was currently complaining, surprisingly loudly, about the cat struggling in his arms. His face had several angry red marks across it from scratches delivered by the creature. The other two looked on amused. Well really Hinata did, Naruko was being forced to stand about ten feet away from them so the cat wouldn't have a panic attack.

They delivered the cat to the mission desk and were surprised to find both the Hokage and Iruka there. He rarely visits the desk himself, usually just having his secretary bring him documents. Well he was right there so she'd just report to him.

"The Tora mission has been completed Hokage-sama." He doesn't even have to say anything as an overweight noble, who had been waiting patiently for her cat, runs up to them and grabs it. She practically squeezes the poor thing to death.

"Oh Tora I'm so happy to see you're alright!" She nuzzles her face into the cat as she walks out of the building.

The Hokage speaks. "Excellent work Kurenai, don't suppose you'd like another mission? We have a bit too many D-ranks today." Hinata speaks up. Not wanting to even be offered the cat mission again as she could already hear the noble crying about it running off once more.

"Kurenai-sensei, Hokage-sama, would it be alright for us to take on a C-rank?" Iruka looks like he wants to tell them not to but Kurenai speaks.

"Finally one of you asked."

"What?" Sasuke asks dumbly, he thought they had to wait, that's what they learned in the academy.

"A Genin team is not given a C-rank until a member of the team requests it. It's because as a ninja while you will be assigned missions, you will also be expected to actively try and take on missions. It's another reason we give frustrating D-ranks, to encourage you to seek higher level and better paying missions." The trio nods, well that made sense, even if it did make them feel stupid.

"Well if Kurenai is alright with it then I have a mission you three can take. Please send Tazuna-san in."

* * *

"Long time no see."

"Indeed. Before she arrives let me ask you, do you still feel guilty?"

"Of course I do. But I've grown to accept it. It no longer leaves me feeling innate." It simply wasn't so soul crushing anymore, the guilt had dulled with time.

"Given that you've become a world famous porn writer I would certainly agree."

"You can have my autograph if you really want." He watched as his teammate barked out a laugh.

"I'll get back to you, maybe once you write something worth reading."

"You wound me."

"If your pride was that easily damaged I would say you're not my teammate."

"True enough."

"So what made you decide to send invitation for us to go drinking?"

"Even if you're a traitor you're still my best friend. Plus, I want your side of the story. You're a bastard and a psychopath but I've never once believed you're evil."

"Aww you're almost making me feel happy, Jiraiya."

"Right, so what happened back then?"

"Sensei wanted me to look into reviving the Shodaime's legacy. Hime wasn't in the village and he didn't want it going extinct."

"And you agreed?"

"It was that or have him force her back. You and I both know I would rather sacrifice strangers than her." They both would. They were only humans, at the end of the day they prioritized the people they cared about first and foremost.

"So you went through with it. I guess you took the fall then?"

"Indeed."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. Hell I wasn't even there for Minato."

"Damn right you weren't, fuck you're still not there for his spawn." A crude feminine voice cut into the conversation. Jiraiya smiled at his busty teammate, "Long time no see you two."

"Glad to see the first thing you do is insult me Hime."

"Is it an insult if it's the truth?"

"It is when I'm under orders that keep me out of the village at all times."

"You could ignore those orders. You know as well as I do Sensei wouldn't do anything if you were adamant about staying in the village."

"Perhaps you're right, but he assures me she's well taken care of. Apparently she's fallen in love with the Hyuuga heiress." He noticed Orochimaru choke on his drink. "What's got you surprised?"

"Did you forget that Hitomi was one of my Genin?"

"Oh yeah, she was wasn't she?"

"So I guess our students children are getting together huh?" Jiraiya hadn't thought about it but it was true. "Does that make us grand-sensei?

"That was lame even for you Orochimaru." He smiled fondly as the snake rolled his eyes.

"Well it doesn't surprise me, Kushina-chan and Hitomi-chan could have convinced me they were dating back in the day. If the two are anything like their mothers then it wouldn't surprise me." Tsunade said with a laugh. It was true, Kushina and Hitomi were both straight but they could pull of a lesbian couple any day of the week. Hell they had used that fact to make Minato and Hiashi red more times then he had count. Jiraiya was willing to bet their kids were already breaking hearts just by being together.

"Well if what Sensei says is true Naruko looks just like her mother."

"It's true, I only had one chance to see her before I left the village, but she had red hair just like her mother. Though she had her fathers blue eyes." He hadn't realized Orochimaru had ever seen his goddaughter. Well it was more than he could claim. He wanted desperately to meet her, but he couldn't not until Sensei was willing to recall him. And with Ame suddenly accepting missions outside of their country the man was feeling more paranoid than ever. He had to have faith that she was safe and happy.

"Did you ever get a chance to see the little heiress?" Tsunade asked looking towards the snake summoner.

A look of guilt crossed the mans face, "No, last I saw Hitomi she was still pregnant."

Jiraiya and Tsunade didn't press him. They sat in silence for a few moments before Jiraiya raised his cup "Well here's to us miserable survivors unable to see the people we care about most." The two looked at him for a moment before tapping their cups against his.

"Fuck now I know you're trying to get me wasted."

"Why else would I ask to see you two again at a bar?" The two shrugged and the three spent their day together drinking with the ghosts of their pasts.

* * *

A/N Well Happy Valentines day everyone. As promised last chapter here's chapter 7 early, consider it my gift to all of you. Or don't, it doesn't really matter. Anyways, we saw the date, we saw the Saturday mock battle, and of course we saw a bit of the Sannin. Next chapter kicks of Wave so I hope you all are looking forward to it, I know I am. Not much more to say, hopefully I'll have chapter 8 written and edited by Wednesday or sooner.

Until Next time

CM 02/14/2020


	8. Low Tide

Tazuna stumbled into the mission office. He had been in Konoha for several days now and he had finally been assigned a team. Of course they had to assign him the team after he had spent the day drinking, rather than before he decided to drink away his sorrows. Well it didn't matter, sure he lacked a few motor functions and the world around him was swirling, but he was paying them and it shouldn't matter if he met them while drunk. He'd probably sober up tomorrow, maybe. He looked up and saw the old Hokage looking at him pleasantly. He figured it was a facade, he smelled like booze and looked like shit and he knew it. But he guessed the man was being professional. His eyes slid over to the other people present in the room, he wasn't happy with what he saw. There were a trio of children and a woman.

The woman seemed capable enough, but she looked younger than his daughter. Although she was quite the beauty. He had no doubt that he would love her _company._ He ignored the look of disgust that flicked across her face, it didn't matter. He turned his attention to the trio of children. One was a frail looking boy who seemed like he would fit better being pampered in a Daimyo's court. The same could be said about the blind girl who had a cold expression that betrayed little emotion. Finally there was a tiny redheaded girl who had a similar cold expression. Although where the blind girls seemed to suppress emotion the redheads simply held none as if she was a blank slate.

Any many ways she reminded him of the facade Inari had been trying to wear. Of course Tazuna knew better, his grandson was constantly hurting but hid it behind a fine layer of apathy. If he had to wager a guess he would bet the girl was the same. That brought the question to mind, what was hurting her? In his time here Konoha had seemed almost like a paradise. Children ran through the streets joyously and people moved around with a lively energy that he used to see in Wave. So why was the girl like his grandson?

He pushed the thought aside, none of that really mattered, these were children and were surely not the ones who would be protecting him, right?

"I'm glad you could make it Tazuna-san. This is the team that will be escorting and protecting you." Of course they were, did Konoha think his protection was a joke? Sure he had lied about the details but that still didn't warrant kids being sent to go get killed by bandits. He decided to throw in his opinion.

"These brats don't look like much. Especially the super tiny redhead over there. Of course the woman looks like she could protect me all night long."

The woman chokes back a gag. He sighed, he would be lying if he said there wasn't some truth to his statement. He may be old but he could still acknowledge that she was stupidly sexy. Disappointing that he's so unappealing, the whole smelling like booze probably doesn't work. Maybe it would have worked if he was just a little younger. He had been quite the ladies man back in his youth. Ah how he longed for those good old days.

The redhead gets a confused expression for a few seconds before she quickly, faster than he can see, places a hand on the blind girl who looks murderous. Well if they're so fast then perhaps they are more skilled than he gave them credit for. Still, he didn't trust kids to protect him.

"I assure you Tazuna-san," The woman's words were a little forced as she addresses the man, "That my team is more than adequate in their ability to protect you." She seemed confidant, well he would find out, like it or not they were his best option.

H grunts and says. "Whatever, I need to leave tomorrow morning. Don't be late. Of course I could always help you be on time, just stay at my place tonight." Might as well give it one last shot, maybe she would change her mind.

"No thank you, My team and I will have to pack for the C-rank anyways. We'll see you tomorrow at 8am." Of course not. He grunts once more and leaves, he wanted to get wasted one last time before he goes back home to that despair.

* * *

"Hey Kurenai-sensei do you have to deal with guys like that all the time?" Kurenai-sensei turned to the Hyuuga heiress and nodded in annoyance.

"If our clients are male and civilians, which they are most of the time, then yes." It was one of the worst parts about being a kunoichi. Because they just had to deal with it, Konoha went out of its way to appear nice and a kunoichi threatening her client would be unacceptable. He had become aware of it from their short time doing D-ranks and it was only made more clear here. He felt for the other members of the team, he understood surprisingly well what it was like to be treated like a piece of meat (Fangirls had a wonderful way of making him annoyingly aware of it). "Now then, you three should go pack. I'd pack for two weeks or so." The three nod and as they were about to leave Naruko speaks up.

"Hey Sasuke, take this." She hands him a sealing scroll. The boy recognized it for what it was and gives his thanks. This is so much easier than carrying a backpack. After several long moments of thinking he looks at the two girls who he had spent so much time with over the past month.

"Naruko, Hinata, do you wanna have dinner at my place tonight, to celebrate our first C-rank?" That. . . Was surprisingly hard to ask. He hadn't invited anyone over in years, but these two girls had grown on him. They were sort of . . . Friends. It was strange, he hadn't thought he would ever grow close to anyone again in life, but here he was.

Hinata wraps her arms around Naruko's waist from behind and looks at him with a gleam in her eyes. "Sasuke are you trying to land both of us at once? Or are you secretly after my girlfriend and plan on stealing her from me?" Her tone was teasing and Naruko was squirming to get out of the other girls grip, well it looked fairly halfhearted.

Sasuke deadpans. "Hinata we both know if I was actually hitting on you and especially Naruko, then you'd already have me choking on my eyes. So do you two want to come over or not?" He was getting impatient and was trying to show he actually cares, at least a little. He so did not need to be teased for this.

"Sure, when should we head over?" Naruko chirps still squirming.

"Just come on over at 7." Hinata nods and walks off still carrying her squirming girlfriend. Sasuke truly wasn't sure what to think of those two. They were both incredibly powerful and he could practically feel himself getting stronger every time he faced them. They had also refused to let him brood whenever they were around. It was still refreshing to him a month later. Though he had begun to truly notice something. The villagers hated Naruko. They bore the same kind of hatred for her as he did for Itachi. He couldn't imagine why. Sure the girl was odd and more than a little naive, but she was surprisingly kind, and he's fairly certain that's a trait most people like. His thoughts on the redhead are interrupted by Kurenai-sensei, who was still there with him, speaking up.

"So am I not invited to this team dinner?" He was surprised she seemed interested, but he supposed she had always shown some level of interest in their personal lives. But never enough to spend her own free time with them.

"Do you want to spend your night hanging out with your genin?"

"You have no idea how much better that sounds then how I used to spend my nights." He didn't get it but he wasn't going to question it.

"Then see you tonight Kurenai-sensei." He didn't really mind, the other two probably wouldn't either. She nods and he heads home. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little excited.

* * *

Three sharp knocks sounded on the door to his office. He calmly called out, "Enter." He already knew it was his eldest, she was very peculiar about knocking the exact same way everytime.

He had to suppress his amusement as she came in carrying a squirming Naruko. Apparently she was in a particularly cuddly mood at the moment. Naruko made eye contact with him in a silent plea for freedom, he just shook his head. She should know by now that it comes with the territory of being Hinata's girlfriend. Hell his eldest had been doing it since they were kids. He suspected the silent plea was part of the game between the two at this point.

"So what brings you here today Hinata?"

"I've come to tell you I'll be out of the village on a C-rank mission for the next few days to weeks." He nods, it was about time for it to happen. "I will also be having dinner at the Uchiha compound tonight with my teammates."

That was a bit of surprise. He knew she got along with Sasuke (Naruko was already a forgone conclusion) but he wasn't expecting her to be having dinner as a team. He had no problem with it, but he hadn't expected for the Uchiha to be the one extending the invitation. Which it had to be him otherwise they would be eating here or at Naruko's apartment.

"I will be sure to let your mother and sister know, although be sure to talk to them before you leave. It would be a shame if your mother misses a chance to gush." He smiled as his daughter nodded. She was an excellent heiress and he couldn't be more proud. She would do great things, of that he had no doubt. He slid his eyes to the redhead in her arms. He supported the relationship fully, but the elders were becoming an increasing pain regarding the situation. He would have to do something about them soon, but if he acted out to much they might just start a rebellion within the clan.

Well, no reason to burden his daughter with such matters yet, she deserved her love and he was not going to be the one to rob her of it. Especially when they were such a cute couple. It took much of his willpower not to dote like his wife.

* * *

The three women arrived at the Uchiha estate a few hours later. They hadn't done the usual training thanks to the mission tomorrow. They also weren't dressed up or anything like that. But they were all feeling relaxed. It was going to be a nice dinner as a team. Three sharp knocks from Hinata is enough for Sasuke to come and open the door. Naru-chan and Hinata both blink, surprised to find the boy in casual clothes. He still had the Uchiha clan crest emblazoned on his back but other than that he was just in a regular T-shirt and shorts. The T-shirt was even yellow of all things. He wasn't wearing any shoes or ninja tape of any kind. It's not like they didn't think he owned casual clothes, they had simply never seen him wear them.

"You know if you keep staring I'm going to start thinking you like what you see. And we both know that's not the case." That snaps the two girls out of their train of thought. Hinata laughs and says.

"Become a woman and you might end up my type." Well not really, but she wasn't about to back down from the banter. At the very least she was sure Sasuke would make for an attractive woman, even if he wasn't strictly her type.

"So you mean like Kurenai-sensei?" It was Naru-chan who spoke up. She knew why she had said it, they both had dark black hair, pale skin and, when Sasuke's Sharingan was active, red eyes.

"Yeah, she's got legs for days. It's the only downside to you being so small, your legs don't just go on forever like hers." Naru-chan seemed contemplative for a moment before nodding, it was the truth Kurenai-sensei was gorgeous, but her legs just never stopped.

* * *

. "I'm right here you know." Kurenai wasn't sure how to feel about how casually her genin were talking about her being Hinata's type. "And you know I'd have thought you'd prefer girls like Naruko anyways."

"Oh don't get me wrong, I love Naru-chan. And believe me her thighs are amazing. And I don't think I could ever find anyone as attractive as I find her. But that doesn't change the fact I can appreciate a nice pair of legs, which you have in spades." Kurenai looks at Naruko.

"And you're okay with knowing she looks at other women?"

"Yeah, I do it too so I don't really see the problem. It's not like we are hitting on other women. There's no way we'd be able to function if we got mad just about the other acknowledging other women as attractive. I think Hina-chan is perfect in every way, but even I have other women I'm attracted to. By the way in case you're curious I've got a bit of a thing for paler women and apparently Byakugan."

"So Hinata?" It was Sasuke who asked. Kurenai had to agree with him, that was basically just Hinata. Didn't sound much like other women were attractive to her.

"Well she certainly fits that description, but so does Hitomi and Kaguya." Kurenai knew who Hitomi was, Hinata's mother (she had met the woman multiple times in fact), but she had no idea who this Kaguya person is.

"I didn't know you thought Kaguya is attractive." Apparently Hinata knew who this woman was. She also didn't seem to care that her girlfriend basically just called her mom hot. Although given how these two act she wouldn't be surprised if Hinata would be surprised if Hinata was the one who prompted Naruko to consider the matter to begin with.

"That's because you've never seen her Hina-chan. She's got this otherworldly beauty to her. She's also the most intimidating person I've ever met." Just who was this woman?

"I'm not familiar with this Kaguya person, what is she like? Or rather who exactly is she?" She asked.

"Well she told me she's a goddess, her looks could certainly match that, and the mother of chakra among other things. But that seems a little outlandish." That didn't seem to be the whole truth by Naruko's expression, but Kurenai figured she had a reason for hiding some information. "As for what she's like, well. She's really tall, just under 7 feet. And she's got crazy long hair, it goes all the way down past her feet and drags on the floor. Oh and it's white. Then of course she's got a pair of Byakugan eyes. Oh and horns."

"Are you sure you didn't dream this woman up?" Kurenai had to agree with Sasuke, the description sounded outlandish.

"Naw, I met her like a month ago."

Kurenai had a sinking feeling in her gut that this person was real. About a month ago was when Naruko was first trying to use her kekkei genkai. Back then her hair had turned white and her hair had taken on the shape of horns, not to mention that third eye. Maybe she was jumping the gun, and this woman was some secret Hyuuga elder or something (of course that would make Hinata not having met her before more confusing). But her gut told her to be wary for future developments with this woman. "Did the woman talk to you about anything?"

"Well yeah, she said I'm like her granddaughter. Oh she also told me I need to die." Wait, this woman told Naruko she needs to die? And they weren't upset over it? What the hell was going on with this woman?

Hinata speaks up now. "Wait you never told me that she said you're like her granddaughter."

"Oh, I guess I got to distracted by the thing with the lullaby, which by the way Kurenai-sensei you still haven't told me what that's about." Kurenai looked away, she still didn't have the courage to tell Naruko the truth. What if the girl hated her for her failures?

Hinata continues pressing. "Well what exactly did she say about her granddaughter?"

"Well she called me by her name, and then said I was of similar spirit." Well that wasn't too bad. Though Kurenai was worried, if this woman existed inside Naruko how could she have a granddaughter, or really any family? She didn't like the sound of that.

"What was her name?"

* * *

"Kagura."

Hinata sucks in a breath. The name was one she never heard before, but simply hearing the name sent tremors through her very being. It was like her chakra itself was reacting to the name alone. She felt herself being overcome by a nostalgic feeling. But more than that was an overwhelming sorrow. She felt her heart thumping in her chest. Why did that name get such a reaction from her? What the hell is going on?

Her head was pounding, it was like she was being assailed by a lifetime of information, but none of it was processing or even being memorized. It was flashing so fast it was as if it wasn't there at all. The only consistent thing was the fact that the name Kagura was ringing through her mind over and over again.

* * *

"Kagura"

Sasuke feels his eyes widen. He was vaguely aware that he instinctively activated his Sharingan as the world around him slowed. The name was echoing in his mind, it was almost maddening with how it wouldn't cease. Who was this woman for the mere name to get such a reaction from him? Why did it seem to draw a reaction from Hinata as well? What the hell is going on? Why did it feel like his heart would rend in two just thinking about this Kagura woman?

There was an overwhelming dread coursing through him at the thought of her, like the weight of an immense failure was suddenly dredged up. It was similar to how he felt when he doubted himself, what if he failed to kill Itachi? What if he died and with him his clan? It was a similar feeling to that, but magnified. He felt like he was drowning in it.

* * *

Kurenai looked at her genin in concern, they both went quiet and somber all at once. Maybe Kagura was the name of some woman that had caused a feud between the two clans, but surely then that person couldn't be the same Kagura Naruko had met, so perhaps it was a coincidence. "So can we start eating or are we going to keep talking about this?" Naruko's voice cut through the tense atmosphere.

It's enough to snap the other two out of their funk and Sasuke nods, ushering them towards his dining room. "Sure, I'm no master chef but I've at least learned." It was no surprise that the boy knew how to cook, he had been alone for five years, there was no way he hadn't learned at least a little. This was swiftly proven true when she tried the meal. Clearly he was being too modest. She decided to voice her thoughts.

"You know the ladies will be all over you in the future once they find out you can cook."

"Then this will have to stay between the four of us, because I'm already swarmed by fan girls as it is." She knew he was still hounded by those vultures. They didn't need to make it worse for him, so she nodded in agreement and said.

"Fair enough, team I order you to secrecy for the sake of our male teammate."

The two girls chorus, "Yes Kurenai-sensei!" Then break into giggles.

"Hey Naruko."

"Yeah Sasuke?"

"It may be a bit blunt, but why do most people in the village hate you?"

Kurenai and Hinata both tense up at his question, ready to deflect for the redhead. She responds before they can. "I know why, but I can't tell you at the moment. Not because I don't trust you, but we're about to go on a mission, and the knowledge might hamper your ability to perform properly. So when we get back I'll explain. Deal?"

"Deal."

Kurenai and Hinata breathe a sigh of relief. That conversation was a headache waiting to happen.

After that the rest of the night goes by in relative peace as the group relaxes and falls into easy conversation. Kurenai's eye slid over to the crow that sat watching them. She said nothing as the Sharingan spun it's eyes. She had no idea what Itachi was thinking, but clearly he thought he was stealthier than he truly is. Why watch his brother growing up from afar, why kill the clan if he still cares. The man was a mystery. As soon as she made eye contact with the bird it flew away. Clearly he didn't want people knowing he still cares. Or maybe he doesn't, and is merely observing a future enemy, but then why bother observing at all?

* * *

The next morning the group of four met at the gate right at the appointed time. Tazuna leveled an annoyed glare at them and said. "I've been waiting super long."

"We arrived right at the appointed time Tazuna-san, it was your choice to be early." Fuck he wasn't drunk enough for this.

"Whatever let's get going, Wave is super far from here." Well it was relatively far, it was several days journey for him, but it was off the coast of Fire Country, so it was far but not that far compared to other places. He still wasn't feeling confident in the ninja he had hired, maybe they would realize they're not capable and give him some real ninja.

"Alright team we'll be moving in a diamond formation, Hinata you will be taking point with the Byakugan. Sasuke and Naruko you're on the sides, I'll take the back."

"I bet you take it from the back too." The comment slipped from his lips naturally.

"Tazuna-san while I cannot force you to stop with the comments, I'd ask you to refrain from being so crude." He rolled his eyes, it was her own fault for dressing so provocatively, she didn't have to wear skin tight bandages of all things. "Now then, let's move out."

With that the group takes off toward Wave. It was a nice day, if a bit hot, and overall made excellent travel weather. It hadn't rained in a few weeks so the ground was dry and easy to travel along. The genin were quietly passing a ball between themselves. None of them were looking at one another or acknowledging the fact that the ball was there. They simply caught it when it came near them and tossed it to one of the others. Tazuna thought it was more than a little weird. The hottie with a body speaks up denying his chance to ask about it.

"Naruko it slipped my mind earlier, but go ahead and deactivate your resistance seals. Every little bit of speed could matter on a mission, so I'd rather you have them off now." The redhead nods and brings a hand up to her hair stick. He didn't really get it but whatever that must be ninja stuff.

Fuck it, he was curious and it's not like asking would hurt. "So what exactly was that supposed to do?"

"I have something called a seal on the charm in my hair senbon." How was it a hair senbon and not just a regular hair stick? "It makes it feel like I'm wading through mud when it's active. So when I turn it off I'm faster. I use chakra to turn it on and off." He didn't truly get it, but he nods anyways. It sounded like magic to him but it was nothing if not interesting.

"So you have super speed now our something?"

"More or less."

Well that's not something you hear everyday. She probably still wouldn't help much, she was much to small. But it was still interesting. So he turns to the boy on the team. "So what's your superpower?"

"I can see things in slow motion and breathe fire." Okay now they were just fuckin' with him. It's one thing to say they can run super fast. He had kinda seen that in action during his stay in the village. But that was straight up magic.

"And I don't suppose the girl up front has X-ray vision or something."

"That's actually more or less correct." Wait what? No they had to be fuckin' with him. Maybe they were still mad about the comment to the woman. Whatever let them be petty.

He didn't notice that the team had stopped throwing the ball as they passed by a puddle. He didn't notice that two figures rose from said puddle and wrapped up the woman. He did however hear the sickening squelch of someone being torn to shreds. He turned on time to see the redhead blink out of his vision and reappear with her foot embedded in the stomach of one of the assassins. Okay maybe that speed was more useful than he gave credit for.

* * *

The other one was yanked back as his brother was shot backwards from the force of the kick. He disconnected the chain before he could be pulled back and was met with spinning red eyes. Suddenly he found himself staring down the Mizukage's right hand man. The man was ripping the arms off his oldest brother and beating him to death with them. The man had turned toward his younger brother and started stalking toward him. The assassin watched helpless as the man, no the demon, did so. He was screaming at his body to move but it just wouldn't. Think, why was this happening why couldn't he move! He had to save him! He wouldn't fail again!

The answer revealed itself to him as the Genjutsu broke and he found himself tied up next to his surviving brother. He was being looked down at by the jonin he could have sworn he killed. She spoke. "Would you like me to extract info from you the easy way, the hard way, or the very hard way?"

"Fuck off you dumb bitch."

"The very hard way it is. Do you want to know what will hurt you worse than me cutting off your fingers?" She didn't give him a chance to answer as she continues. "Cutting off your brothers fingers. Isn't that right Meizu, missing nin of Kiri? According to the Bingo book you're a B-rank ninja wanted for trying to assassinate the Mizukage, along with your two brothers, one of whom died in the process, only to be stopped by her Jonin commander, Momochi Zabuza. So you fled for yours and your remaining brothers life. It'd be a shame if he were to be crippled because you refused to talk." The assassin remains silent and she does as promised, cutting off the index finger of his brother. The pain seemed to jolt his younger brother awake as he screams out. "The sooner you talk the sooner your brother stops suffering." He couldn't even respond before the middle finger was cut off and an ear piercing scream ripped through his brothers throat.

The man broke quickly. "Alright! Alright! Dammit I'll talk! Just stop already!" Why did he always get stuck being a lapdog to some bitchy woman? First the Mizukage, then the bitches Gato hired. Now this woman.

"You should have just done so earlier. Now then, who hired you."

"The shipping magnate Gato."

"Why did he hire you?"

"He wanted me to assassinate the bridge builder."

"Why?"

"The man is some kind of threat to his business after Gato took over the country."

"Who else is working with you?"

"Some bitch. I don't know her name." He left out the others, maybe they'd kill each other.

"I see, is there anything else I should know."

"Yeah your lips look like they were made for sucking cock."

"Glad to know you'll be enjoying your time in Konoha's T&I." With that the whore injected him with a some substance and he blacked out. When he woke up next he found himself in grungy cellar, great, just fucking great.

* * *

Kurenai eyed her genin, they seemed just a little sickened but more surprised. They hadn't been exposed to her cold professionalism in quite a while. She had grown to be warm with them most the time so she figured the shift must have been jarring. She knew it was for her back when she went on a mission with Kushina-sensei for the first time.

"I'm super sorry! My country could only afford a C-rank it was our only hope. Please you've gotta help us!"

"You know if you wanted to endear yourself to us maybe you shouldn't have insulted my genin and spent your time sexually harassing me." She could leave this fool to rot and no one would blame her.

"I'm sorry, please if you all leave now I'll probably be killed and then my daughter and grandson will cry." Of course the ass had a family waiting for him. They always do.

"Kurenai-sensei if nothing else wouldn't making a country indebted to us be worth more than a C-rank?" Hinata was right, the actually monetary worth that could end up being gained is closer to S-rank. But the level is more than most genin could handle. Though on other hand her genin did just take out two B-rank missing nin with little trouble. She'd hear them out.

"Well what do you three want to do?"

"I think we should help them." Hinata had a calculating look in her eye. Kurenai had no idea what the girl was thinking, but she was plotting for something, the girl always seemed to be thinking up future plans.

"I'm in agreement with Hinata." Sasuke wasn't surprising, he would always seek strong opponents and this would likely be a good test for him (at least as far as he was concerned). She looked towards her redheaded student.

"I don't particularly care, so if the other two are up for it then so am I." Well the votes were in and she can't really say the outcome is anything other than what she expected.

"Alright we'll continue the mission. But Tazuna-san if I hear one thing I don't like from you. Be it insulting my genin or being crude towards me then we will turn around and your people will rot. Not only that but I need to know exactly what's going on." She gives him time to explain while she leaves an encrypted note for the Hokage with the Demon Brothers.

The man nods vigorously and says. "Yes of course! Thank you so much!" Then his expression becomes somber. "Gato arrived in our country two years ago. At first it had seemed like a wealthy business man was simply interested in expanding into the country. The people didn't particularly mind or care. We had all just figured that maybe we'd get some better roads with the taxes the Daimyo could levy off him. That was about it. Then he bought up all the ports. And in case you don't realize. For an island nation like wave, the person who controls the ports controls the country. That's when he started to hire bandits to collect taxes from the people. It only took a little while before the entire country fell under his control. Ever since he's been robbing us blind and using our ports to smuggle opium across the Elemental Nations."

"Where's the Daimyo in all this?" Hinata's tone was one of confusion.

"He went missing not long after Gato showed up, we all assume he was killed by the man." The man continues his previous train of thought. "That's why I'm building my bridge. Once it connects us to the mainland we won't be totally dependent on the ports anymore." That wouldn't work, not on it's own. If the man was so wealthy he could simply station bandits and make it into a toll bridge. Even if the bridge was done it wouldn't necessarily improve things, Gato himself would need to be removed for things to really improve.

* * *

Hiruzen had suspicions about Tazuna's trickery. It was confirmed when a patrol of Anbu had picked up the Demon Brothers and an encrypted note from Kurenai. He didn't send a team after them. He had sent that team intentionally. Every Team 7 of the past had always been tempered by the fires of combat and the sorrows of loss, this one would be no different. The team had important village resources on it, but holding back said resources from growing only hurt Konoha.

If the team members struggled then they would succeed. Just as the Uchiha had found talent after his family died and the Uzumaki found drive from wanting to push out abuse. The Hyuuga had found her own drive as a result of her desire to protect. They may hate him for what he's done. But some day they will see that what he does is for both their own good and the good of the village.

Kurenai was a similar case. He had to force her away from the girl. Her talent was going to waste raising the child. She had grown to be certain in those three years but she had grown stronger far faster once the redhead was out of her life. She would have already been S-rank if she didn't waste time raising a child that wasn't even her own. But of course those who he helped never saw it that way. They always saw him as trying to ruin their lives. Can't they tell he loves them as he does his own family. For every leaf on the great tree is connected by the mighty branches that hold them aloft. Just as those branches are supported by the trunk and the roots. Truthfully the only one he truly believed he had failed was his student. He had to sacrifice the man to keep his hands clean, it was necessary but it did condemn him. A shame too, he saw him in many ways as the son he wished his children were like. Well that bridge was burned years ago.

His thoughts turn to his eldest son. The boy had started to focus all his attention on his team. He had nothing left but them. He knew his son would be unable to resist the money Kurenai was sending Naruko. It's why he chose him to deliver it. Everything he did he did for Konoha. He had secured the strength of another team. Even if it meant sacrificing his own son. Yes they might hate him, but he was doing what was right for everybody. All was well in his vision of the leaf. The mighty tree would continue to stand strong.

* * *

Hinata had to gape a the sight of the bridge. It towered above them and extended far off into the distance, it was like something ripped straight out of a dream. This was more than something simply connect the two nations, this was a symbol. A symbol that represented prosperity. She was beginning to see why Gato perceived Tazuna as a threat.

"I'm not a master bridge builder for nothing." They nod dumbly. Many cited the Hokage monument as being the most impressive thing in the Elemental Nations, mostly Konoha residents, but this outclassed it by far. This is the type of thing that would go down in history as a feat of human ingenuity. Suffice to say she was impressed. And if Naru-chan's and Sasuke's expression were anything to go by, then so were they.

The rest of the boat ride goes by in silence. Normally the group would make chatter but they are going out of their way to make sure they're as stealthy as possible. Hinata is still observing the surroundings with her Byakugan but so far she can't spot anything, she had been on high alert but there was no sign of danger yet. It doesn't take long for them to arrive on shore.

It was misty on the small island. "Hinata does the mist have chakra?" She knew what Kurenai-sensei was implying, Kiri was infamous for their use of the mist in jutsu, and they had just encountered missing nin from Kiri.

"No Kurenai-sensei, this is normal mist." No matter how hard she looked at it she couldn't find even trace amounts of chakra so it had to be.

"It gets pretty misty in the spring here." Tazuna adds helpfully. Then he goes on to say, "It will probably clear up soon."

"I see." That's annoying, that makes it so much easier for their enemies to hide (for her teammates that is, it didn't effect her). She wasn't sure if there would be multiple enemies or just the woman she was told about.

As they walk Hinata was noticing something increasingly odd. At first she thought it was her imagination, but now she was sure of it. "Kurenai there seems to be random traces of chakra that are increasing in regularity."

"Everyone be on your guard. We don't know what kind of Jutsu this is." She was tempted to check, but decided against it. If it was some kind of trap then getting to close would be a bad idea. She instead opted to guide her team around clusters of the chakra traces, not trusting the thought of getting close.

* * *

Naruko was having a weirdly hard time focusing on what's going on. Ever since they had landed on the island nation she had felt a weird pull to the north-east. It was strange she almost couldn't describe the feeling. It felt sort of like. . . Like that feeling she gets when she hasn't seen the Ichiraku family in a while and suddenly she found herself on their street. It felt kind of like. . . Home. But she had never been here in her life. Yet no matter how she tried to reason it out she felt this pull. She wondered if Kurenai-sensei would let her investigate it. She didn't notice how she was starting to drift from the group.

* * *

Hinata was getting increasingly worried. She was noticing more and more of these chakra traces. That had her worried but what worried her more was her girlfriend. The girl was getting more spaced out by the second and she was slowly but surely deviating from the group. Hinata checked Naru-chan's chakra system but found no irregularities in it so she's not under the influence of a Genjutsu. She didn't know what was going on and she didn't like it. "Tazuna-san how far are we from your house?"

"About an hour."

"Naruko!" Hinata hisses at the redhead. She had started to actually wander off. It seemed her words were enough to snap her out of her funk for the moment. The older girl looks at her confused and says.

"Yeah, what?"

"What's going on? You were starting to wander off."

* * *

Naruko honestly hadn't noticed, she had just found herself moving towards the pull. "I don't know. I just feel this strange pull to the north-east." Kurenai-sensei looked at her with a strange expression. She must know something Naruko didn't. That was always the look Kurenai-sensei adopted when she knew something that she wanted to share but couldn't. What could it possibly be that her Sensei couldn't tell her now? She supposed it could just be the fact that they were more or less in the middle of enemy territory. Finally Kurenai-sensei spoke.

"Do you think you can ignore it for now, I can't have you distracted while we're on a mission." Naruko nodded, being distracted would certainly be bad for all of them.

"I think so, but could we check it out when everything is said and done here?"

"I'll think about it." Naruko looked out the corner of her eye as she saw Hina-chan becoming increasingly alarmed, something must be going on with those chakra traces. Suddenly Hina-chan's face morphs into horror. At the same time Naruko feels a hand get placed on her shoulder.

"I think you should let her go." A woman's voice rang out. It sounded distinctly bored and kind of monotone. Her teammates whirl to look at the woman. Naruko herself looks up at the woman in confusion. She was tall, slightly taller than Kurenai-sensei. She had light blue hair and a piercing through her bottom lip. She could faintly see a flower made with Origami in her hair. She had a pair of striking Orange Eyes that stared back at her with a weird mix of curiosity and warmth. Underneath all that was an undeniable melancholy. The woman wore a black cloak that was emblazoned with red clouds. It hid her form so Naruko had no idea what she looked like underneath.

She should perhaps be more concerned but she felt no hostility from the woman, and that warmth made her feel like she was in no real danger. Her eyes turned towards Kurenai-sensei. She fell into an aggressive stance, clearly ready to strike at any moment. But the red eyed woman was also being cautious. If this woman really was an enemy then she was currently a hostage. Her two teammates quickly followed suit. She doubted the woman actually wanted her dead, if she did then Naruko would likely already be dead. "Who are you?"

"I'm Konan."

That wasn't really helpful. "Yes, but _who_ are you?" She repeats.

"I guess you could call me the leader of Amegakure. Well, one of the leaders."

* * *

"Last I heard Hanzo the Salamander was still the leader."

"We got rid of him years ago. And now that we're done rebuilding we're ready to enter back into the ninja world." Kurenai was immediately alarmed. Hanzo was one of the most powerful ninja to ever live. He was strong enough to take on all three Sannin at the height of their power and win. Hell he's the one who gave them their title. He is one of four ninja in the history of the Elemental Nations to achieve the rank of SS. So if this woman had a hand in his downfall then she was at least S-rank. And what's more she's managed to avoid being put in any bingo book. She's dangerous, possibly the most dangerous kunoichi in the world, even more so than Senju Tsunade or the Mizukage. The fact that she has her hands on her student did not bode well for them. Kurenai had to suppress every urge to attack, hasty actions could get Naruko killed.

"So why exactly are you here?"

"I was hired by Gato to kill him." She says pointing at the bridge builder. Naruko looks up at her and bluntly asks.

"Can you not?"

"Sure." The woman paused in thought before she added. "If that is what you want, Naruko." Alarms shot through Kurenai's mind.

This woman was a threat that needed to be dealt with now! It's one thing to simply meet another nin on a mission. That happens all the time. But this woman knew Naruko's name without them having said it. But she needs confirmation. "Hinata did you see this woman when you called Naruko's name."

"No." She saw the recognition cross Hinata's face. The range of her Byakugan far out classed the range someone can hear whispers, not only that but she had only said Naru-chan not Naruko. So if this woman knew who Naruko is before hand that means she had been keeping tabs on her. The white eyed girls eyes hardened. Good at least she understood the gravity of the situation.

"That's what I was afraid of." The woman was watching them curiously. She had no hostility on her face, but a good ninja can hide their hostility easily and this woman seemed like more than just a good ninja. She seemed to pick up on her worries and said.

"There's no reason to be afraid, I'm not going to hurt her." Of course they didn't buy it. It didn't help that she hadn't moved at all and still kept a hand on Naruko's shoulder. Hopefully she was telling the truth, Kurenai doubted she would be fast enough to stop the S-rank Kunoichi from acting before Naruko died. "If I release her are you going to attack me?"

"That depends will you willing come to Konoha's T&I department?" If this woman knew about Ame and knew about Naruko then she needed to be thoroughly interrogated. That was the absolute minimum of what they need.

She watched as Hinata tensed, something was happening with chakra then. Kurenai tensed herself, ready to spring into action. "I see, I guess we're fighting then." Hinata screams out.

"Everyone get down!" The three members of the team hit the deck with Sasuke pulling Tazuna down. Then out of seemingly nowhere thousands of white shuriken rip out of the ground all around them and fly overhead. They instantly disperse all of the mist that had gathered. Of course none of them went anywhere near Konan or Naruko. The redhead had gone completely still. Kurenai knew what she was doing, hopefully Konan's information won't have let her know about Naruko's abilities. Slowly but surely her bangs begin to lift and red appears around her eyes. She drives an elbow backwards into the woman's sternum. The woman leaped away before the hit could connect.

"Sorry Konan-san, I've got nothing against you personally but you attacked my friends and my girlfriend so it looks like we've gotta fight." Konan shrugs. She didn't seem to mind the fact that the redhead attacked her.

"Well, know that after this battle I have no intention of being your enemy. But I suppose this is as good a chance as any to test you."

"Why are you testing me?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Naruko shrugs accepting that answer.

* * *

Kurenai-sensei suddenly lunges forward pulling her sword from her scrolls. Konan mirrors her by forging a white sword out of nowhere. The woman seemed to be able to match Kurenai-sensei step for step, swing for swing. Where Kurenai-sensei had the skill the woman seemed to have the raw speed to make up for it. Naruko looks at one of the discarded shuriken and picks it up. It's made of. . . Paper? That's odd. So then is the sword also made of paper? That's an odd jutsu. She doesn't spend much longer pondering the nature of Konan's Jutsu as she begins to cast False Senses: One Hundred Blooming Flowers, she and her teammates are quickly obscured by the flowers.

It takes Konan less than half a second to break the Genjutsu but in that time she found Kurenai-sensei's sword being forced through her gut. Kurenai-sensei looks pleased for a moment before they all realized the woman wasn't actually bleeding. She exploded into a mass of paper, some of which had become active explosive tags and other becoming shuriken. Kurenai-sensei's able to avoid the explosions and most of the shuriken but she does suffer a few shallow cuts and minor burns spread across her arms and legs, which she had used to block. The remaining paper reforms into Konan once more, who looked no worse for wear.

"That was an Excellent Genjutsu, Naruko. I'm sure in time you'll be quite the master." It hadn't really done anything, but if this woman was as powerful as she seems then that was no surprise, it was pretty much the same as trying to trap Kurenai-sensei in a Genjutsu. It can be done, but it's mostly ineffective. But it was enough to pull one over on people similar to the redheads strength. The redhead dashes towards her in a burst of speed. Having trained with Gai a few times Naruko was aware that she was fast for a genin, she was closer to a mid level chunin in terms of speed. Well she's faster when she's using the nature energy, like she currently was. She had no idea what the comparable speed was but she knew it was far faster than normal chunin are capable of. Konan easily blocks the kick that the small girl sends her way. She's forced to deflect a strike from an angry Hyuuga. She may be immune to Kurenai-sensei's sword, but would she be immune to Hina-chan's Jyuken?

* * *

The two girls jump back at the same time as a searingly hot fireball comes at her. She raises a single hand and a wall of paper moves to block the fire. She quickly finds her arms and body bound against a tree. Mokuton? No their sensei is known for her mastery of Genjutsu. She is freed from said Genjutsu when a Jyuken strike connects with her arm, disabling it. Those strikes did hurt, even if the white eyed girl is only a genin. She manages to jump back in time to avoid having her shoulder dislocated by a well placed ax kick from her redheaded target.

The girl could certainly be better but she had talent waiting to truly be brought to the surface. The jonin seemed to have picked up on Konan's newfound weak spot and had made a valiant attempt at cutting her arm off before she can use it again. But she was more than capable of of deflecting the other woman's sword strikes with her own. Konan had to dodge again as it seemed the genin weren't going to let the grown ups fight alone. It's unfortunate too as it put her right in the path of the red eyed woman's sword. It went straight through her arm and she bit back a wince.

Luckily it didn't cut off her arm and really it was fairly salvageable. It will just hurt like hell for the next few weeks. She can't stay like this. Once more she creates a storm of shuriken however, seeing as the Jonin would be able to dodge she aims them towards the genin.

"Naru-chan, Sasuke get down!" The two trust the white eyed girl and hit the ground. Hinata jumps above them and performs a now perfected Kaiten, successfully deflecting the entirety of the barrage from hitting her and her teammates. Well Konan certainly hadn't been expecting that. Though Kurenai didn't seem to either as she had started to move to help her two genin. Konan recovers from the surprise slightly faster and her sword goes through the other woman's dominant shoulder.

"It's over you can't fight like this. I have no interest in killing you so I suggest we stop here." Konan leaps away from the woman and disperses her sword. She gestures to the injured woman.

* * *

Hina-chan immediately rushes forward and starts to apply some of her healing salves. Once that's done she wraps the shoulder. It's only first aid but it should at least staunch the bleeding. When they make it to Tazuna's house she can do more.

"So did I pass your test?" Naruko was curious, even if she was still a little wary.

"Yes. So now then let me ask you, something in return. Do you truly care about Konoha?"

Naruko shrugs. "Not really." She answered honestly, she wanted to know where the woman was going with this.

"I thought as much, so let me ask you another question. Do you wish to be free of the abuse wrought upon you?"

"I'm already free, I have been since the day I passed my genin exam."

"But are you really? You still serve under a leader who would sacrifice you. And who you can't object to due to his absolute authority. So are you really free?"

"I guess not when you put it like that. Where are you going with this?" Konan smiles and walks right up to Naruko. She extends a hand and says.

"Would you like to come with me to Ame? To a better life, free of pain?" She heard Hina-chan's breath hitch. She was sure her girlfriend was dying to know her answer. Naruko couldn't blame her, this was a topic they had considered a lot, but now an opportunity was actually presenting itself.

Naruko looks at the ground for several moments in thought. It was a tempting offer, almost too good to be true. "How do I know this isn't some trick?"

"You can't. That's the truth of trusting others in the world of ninja. You can never know if you will be betrayed. So all I can give you is my word. I know who you are and what you hold. And I know you are destined for greatness. If you come with me you will never again face scorn for your burden. Never again will you be sacrificed for the sake of another. So, Naruko, won't you come with me?" Konan's voice was full of passion and earnestness. It was actually a little bit jarring compared to her earlier monotone and boredom. But it made for a convincing speech and once more Naruko found herself weighing her options. She looks up at the woman and takes a deep breath.

"I. . ."

* * *

"I'm bored."

"Don't be bored then."

"But Konan-sensei went to go test her alone, and she didn't even let us Kill Gato."

"Be patient, I'm sure we'll get our chance."

"You're no fun."

"And you are a child."

"At least I'm not boring."

"You're certainly not boring, you're just annoying as hell."

"You know you love me."

"And you know I hate you." She stuck her tongue out at her teammate, why'd he have to be such a dickhead? Whatever he just didn't understand how amazing she is.

"So what do you think she'll be like?"

"From how I understand it she was abused as a child, so maybe quiet and withdrawn."

"What if she's loud and boisterous?"

"I doubt it, but you never know."

"Hey maybe she'll even be cute."

"That will be for you to figure out."

"Hehe, you're right. I hope she's a cutie. Konan-sensei is the only person worth looking at in Ame."

"There are plenty of beautiful women in Ame."

"Sure, but none like Konan." She saw him nod, he conceded the point and they both knew it.

"Who knows, maybe you'll fall in love at fist sight."

She laughed, "Yeah right, that doesn't happen. In real life, maybe get your head out of the clouds."

"As soon as you get yours out of your pants."

"Hey nothing wrong with appreciating the finer sex."

"When we're not on the job sure, but we're working right now."

"You're boring as hell."

"You've said that multiple times today, saying it again won't make me not right."

"Ugh I hate you."

"You love me and you know it." She sighed as he grinned at her, having thrown her own words back.

"Bastard."

* * *

A/N Well Wave has begun, and of course Zabuza is not here, nor is Haku. Shouldn't be a surprise, things are different in this timeline. For those who haven't read the original, any guesses on who the two people in the last scene are? You get nothing if you get it right, except imaginary internet points, and maybe a little pride. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed. It's one of the shorter chapters in the rewrite so far, but it was one of the original chapters I was incredibly satisfied with so I really didn't need to do much to the chapter other than add a few scenes, and keep it consistent with the rest.

Until next time

CM 02/19/2020


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